


How quiet the rain falls

by NegativeBlue



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Character Study, F/F, a bit of a season 3b rewrite in a sense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-20 17:00:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1518281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NegativeBlue/pseuds/NegativeBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Everything still looks the same to you, doesn’t it?”</p><p>By the time it dawned on her what Emma meant it was already too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 'All night the sound had come back again,  
> and again falls this quiet, persistent rain'
> 
> (The Rain - Robert Creeley)

 

* * *

 

  
  


She chalked it up to her imagination at first. Something that sounded so different compared to the soothing murmurs of a crowd chattering amongst themselves in the diner. A cloud of noise in which she could just disappear. Let her thoughts drift as she poured some milk into her coffee and stirred the liquid around with a spoon.

 

She looked at the spoon absentmindedly, staring but not seeing as it tapped against the insides of the cup. Until the rhythmic taps were the only sounds remaining that reached her ears. She tilted her head up slightly, eyes widening in surprise even as she stopped her stirring. The diner had become eerily quiet, and Regina’s entire body tensed as she felt the prickling across her spine, of dozens of eyes boring into her. She straightened herself up from her previously hunched over position and prepared herself for whatever would follow. Because if the past had taught her anything, it usually amounted to nothing good. Especially not in this town full of people who at best only tolerated her.

 

It’s only then that she heard it again.

 

“Regina?”

 

It was soft. Hesitating. And it made Regina’s eyes drift shut for a moment. A surge of anger bubbled to the surface, and her muscles tensed up even more as she turned around to face Emma; an angry sneer playing around her lips.

 

“So the stories are true then?” Regina started, cocking her head Emma’s way. “I’m not sure why I’m surprised at your return. You do seem to have a knack for breaking my spells after all.”

 

“I..”

 

Regina found herself strangely fascinated with the way Emma’s lips formed around words that never seemed to roll across her lips. Instead, Emma took a few steps forward and her hand shot out for a moment, a gesture that completely took Regina by surprise. But it was only a second, and then it fell back limply at Emma’s side. Emma’s entire posture seemed to change as she hung her head and Regina had no idea what to make of it. In fact she had no idea why she was even standing around here in the first place. With carefully measured movements, Regina pushed herself quietly away from the counter, she had had enough of the thick cloying tension which was hanging in the air and seemed to slowly suffocate her. She used to enjoy this, being in the spotlights. But nowadays it was just a painful reminder of all the things she no longer felt comfortable with.

  
She registered David standing up from his seat and walking up to an unmoving Emma from the corners of her eyes as she turned to face the bar again.

 

“Ruby,” she called out, smirking at the waitress jumping up a little in surprise. “I’ll have another coffee. To go. There’s something to be said for having some peace and quiet, wouldn’t you agree,” she added and placed some dollar bills on the counter.

 

She grinned wickedly when Ruby just stared at her without replying back. Not that Regina had expected her to say anything in return.

 

It was only when she turned away from the bar again that she heard her name being called out once more. It sounded almost...desperate, and it aggravated her. It aggravated her more than being the focus of everyone’s attention in the crowded diner. Because she might’ve done something nice for this damnable woman and her son a year ago, but she still owed her nothing. Certainly not any of her precious time.

 

When she pulled the diner’s door shut behind her, it was with enough force to make the windows rattle. And it was loud enough to momentarily overcome the tumble of thoughts in her head as she made her way to the car without a glance back.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“You do realize it’s a common courtesy to knock before you barge into someone’s office uninvited, don’t you dear?”

 

When the only answer that greeted Regina was the sound of footsteps getting closer until a shadow fell across her desk, she sighed and capped her pen. Placing it neatly on top of the paperwork she’d been filling in, Regina steepled her fingers and stared up at the woman standing in front of her desk.

 

“We need to talk,” Emma said after visibly swallowing a few times and placing her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

 

“Oh do we now?” Regina lifted one of her eyebrows as she gave Emma a quick once-over. “And to think that a year ago I imagined I would forever be free of your presence. That was a one-time offer by the way, I have no idea how you had your memories restored bu..”

 

“Hook had a potion.”

 

“Ah I see. Ever the loyal boyfriend isn’t he?” Regina chuckled softly at the narrowed eye glare she received in response.

 

“Boyfriend?” Emma shook her head. “He’s not..He’s..”

 

“Just a lover then? Tell me does he bring his hook to your..”

 

“Enough! Okay?” Emma hissed out. “Enough, would you stop bringing him up. I’m not here to talk about him.”

 

“No I suppose you are not.”

 

Regina’s thoughts briefly strayed towards the nauseating pirate and she wondered how the hell he of all people had managed to get his hands on an memory restoration potion. The complexities of making one certainly went even beyond her own abilities.

 

Lifting her head, Regina’s gaze snapped to the silver star clipped to Emma’s belt and she pursed her lips at the implications behind it. “Daddy dearest really didn’t waste any time in making you the Sheriff again didn’t he?”

 

She loathed the thought of having even more possible future interactions with this woman, who was a constant and painful reminder of her failures.

 

“Mary Margaret will be due any day now Regina, David just wants to..”

 

Emma’s voice faltered, then faded away completely and Regina found herself intrigued by the strange expression on the other woman’s face.

 

“Did you..change anything?” Emma asked.

  
“Change what?” But instead of getting an answer Emma walked around the desk behind of which Regina was sitting and stared at it as if she was trying to find something. “What the hell are you doing?”

 

“You didn’t, did you?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about dear.”

 

Emma’s strange behavior completely mystified Regina and she had no idea why Emma’s eyes continued to flick all around the office as if she was only just now seeing it for the first time.

 

“Your office, you didn’t…” Emma shook her head and then closed her eyes. “Of course you didn’t,” she continued, her voice soft and laced with a sadness that shouldn’t have affected her. But for some reason it did. And she wanted to blame it on this new curse; the missing year, but there was this thought that came to her that it might just be something else entirely.

 

“Are you going to speak in tongues all day or are you actually going to tell me the reason behind your unannounced visit?”

 

“Everything still looks the same to you, doesn’t it?”

 

“It would help if you told me just what it is I’m supposed to see.”

 

She glanced around the room for a moment, wondering if she had somehow missed something, and wasn’t at all surprised to find nothing out of the ordinary. She remembered the first time she had set foot in her office some weeks ago and found it in the same state it had been when the town had ceased to exist a year ago. At least everyone was assuming it had been approximately a year, mostly because of the changes to the people themselves. Like Snow’s pregnancy. It hadn’t taken all that long to confirm that no one remembered anything from the year they were gone otherwise. Every single person seemed to only remember Pan’s curse, and the sensation of being transported somewhere. And then they were back here. A year later. Almost as if nothing had happened at all.

 

Almost as if she had never sent Emma and her son away at all.

 

She waited a few seconds more, and was just about to repeat her question when Emma walked back to the desk. “Never mind. It’s not...important I guess. My parents filled me in a little on what happened, but I was hoping you had more information,” Emma said as she looked pensively at Regina for a long moment, before a painful expression passed across her face and she averted her gaze again.

 

“On what? Our return here? Because I can assure you…”

 

“I know you had nothing to do with it,” Emma interrupted her and Regina was surprised to hear the vehemence with which Emma spoke. “Mary Margaret and David told me right away that they didn’t think you were behind this. That, and they mentioned there being flying monkeys near the town line? You know I didn’t see any when I drove into Storybrooke but I did run into one in New York interestingly enough.”

 

“New York?” Regina couldn’t help the way her mouth fell open in surprise. Because it was one thing for those flying furballs to prevent anyone from going across the town-line, it was another thing entirely for one of them to appear outside of the town. Especially since as far as she was aware at least, they were magical in nature.

 

“I have your attention now, don’t I?” Emma stated glibly as she sat down on the edge of the desk, while seemingly completely ignoring the disapproving glare Regina shot her way.

 

“You do realize there are almost a dozen perfectly viable chairs in this room you can sit on, don’t you dear?”

When there was no reply forthcoming, Regina flicked her eyes up from the stack of files she’d been sorting to find Emma staring at her; a wistful little smile playing around her lips that made Regina feel decidedly uncomfortable. And she didn’t understand where that feeling was coming from. But it was enough to make her want to get this conversation over with so Emma could be on her way again. That and she still had a meeting to attend to as well.

 

“Since teaching you manners still seems to be a hopeless endeavour, how about you tell me about your encounter with the flying monkey in New York. It could be of help with figuring out what this Wicked Witch might be after. And please, do be brief, I have other matters to attend to, some of us actually do try to keep this town running instead of merely loitering around.”

 

“Right, yeah..” Emma muttered and stared down at her jeans seemingly deep in thought. “I uhm, I met this guy in New York, his name was Walsh.”

 

Rolling her eyes, Regina was about to comment on how she didn’t need to know about Emma’s dating habits when Emma continued.

 

“He..proposed me, I kind of said no, and then Hook came along with that potion. And I...had this fight with Walsh and he fell off the rooftop. I really thought he was dead there for a moment. But instead he turned into a freaking flying monkey and eventually flew off. I haven’t seen him since.”

 

“And he didn’t say anything to you that might be a clue as to why he was interested in you?”

 

It was the first thing that sprung to mind for Regina at least, something about Emma being the savior and all that, which the Wicked Witch could maybe have perceived as a threat.

 

“We didn’t exactly have a heart-to-heart talk in between him lunging for me and changing into a flying monkey, so no,” Emma said as she hopped off the desk and paced around a little. “I met him around 8 months ago though, if that’s of any help.”

 

“It could be,” Regina replied thoughtfully as she tried to wrap her mind around the things Emma had just told her. Then her eyes flicked towards her watch and she cursed under her breath. She was going to be late if she stayed around here any longer.

 

Standing up from her chair, she grabbed her document case from next to her desk and placed the files she’d been sorting through into it. She was pretty sure half of them wouldn’t be of any use during the meeting, but Emma Swan’s untimely appearance had thrown her off her schedule enough so she hadn’t been able to complete her task.

 

“You going?”

 

“As I stated before,” Regina started without looking up from the files she was collecting.

 

“I know, the meeting, but there are some more things I need to ask you.”

 

“Well then I suppose you will just have to wait until later to ask them, now won’t you?” Regina responded cheerily as she tilted her head up for a moment to smirk at Emma.

 

“Regina..” Emma called out as Regina walked past the other woman to remove her coat from the coat stand in the corner of her office. “This is really important. There have been people disappearing from the town without a trace, not to mention the missing...year.”

 

“And what is it you suggest we do then Emma?” Regina responded a little annoyed. “You think that just because you are the savior you are able to succeed where others have failed?”

 

“What is that supposed to..no, I’m just trying to…”

 

Juggling the document-case and her handbag around a little, Regina opened the door of her office and stepped out. She sighed inwardly upon noticing Emma trailing after her as they walked across the small hallway and down the stairs.

 

“But..I uhm...does that mean you tried to undo whatever spell caused everyone to forget a year of their lives?”

 

That at least made Regina freeze halfway down the stairs, her hand tightening the grip she had on the strap of the handbag hanging across her shoulder. She couldn’t believe the nerve of this woman, especially after only being back in town for little over a day. Pressing her lips into a thin line of displeasure she spun around to face Emma.

 

“Are you trying to insinuate I haven’t?”

 

“N-no,” Emma stuttered as she placed her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Look, all I know is what Mary Margaret and David told me, okay? I’m trying to understand what’s going with this memory-loss..thing.”

 

The last word was uttered so softly it was barely discernible and Regina frowned as she tried to figure out what the hell Emma’s angle was with this discussion. As far as she was concerned it was none of Emma’s business how the town was dealing with this latest threat. Her eyes briefly lingered on the watch around her wrist and she squared her jaw as she realized that she would indeed arrive too late at this particular council-meeting. And she had Emma Swan to thank for it.

 

“While I appreciate the information you gave me, I do believe we are done here Sheriff Swan.”

 

“Wait..no, Regina.” Emma’s voice took on an almost pleading tone as she descended a few steps until she stood right in front of Regina. “Can’t we just...work together on this?”

 

“Work together?!” Regina questioned on a mocking tone, followed by an amused chuckle. “Are you delusional?.”

 

There was a flickering in Emma’s eyes then, and Regina wondered what it was, anger, disbelief? It reminded her of their interactions in the past, filled with animosity. Which made Emma’s behavior; as if they were suddenly the best of friends, even stranger. Or at least…

 

Something clicked into place as a thought came to her.

 

“Do you truly think an act of generosity, not for your benefit might I add, suddenly changes who we are to each other?” Regina said as she rose her eyebrows. “Is that why you’ve been acting so strange since your arrival back in town? You believe we are what...friends now?” Regina asked a tinge bemused.

 

“Act of generosity?” Emma repeated as the expression on her face changed to one of utter confusion. “I don’t understand. You mean...what happened at the..” She halted then, staring past Regina as if she remembering something. “At the town line?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I d-don’t…” Emma stuttered, pulling her hands from her pockets and wrapping her arms around herself instead. “What do you remember?”

 

“I do not exactly have the time for reminiscing.”

 

“But you…”

 

Narrowing her eyes to slits, Regina took a step forward right into Emma’s personal space. “Just so we are clear, Emma Swan,” she bit out harshly as the corners of her mouth curled up in disdain. “I was trying to do something nice for your son, because I did not believe he should suffer the consequences of what was going to happen. Since you two are a package-deal, I gave you a set of cheery memories too. But this in no way means we are suddenly on good terms. I will never forgive the fact that you broke the curse, and ruined something I had worked on for decades.”

 

“Regina..” Emma tried once more as she reached out with a hand.

 

“Do not touch me,” Regina hissed as she flinched away from the outstretched hand. “And do not for one moment believe that just because that silly little prince of a father of yours made you Sheriff you are suddenly welcome to stay in this town. If I find out you are doing anything to conspire against me in any form or way I will make sure you get evicted from your apartment, and I will have you fired from your position of Sheriff. In fact I will make your life as miserable as possible until you take your leave again, are we clear?”

 

Instead of a reply there was only silence for a long tense moment, and when Emma eventually looked away Regina descended the remaining steps without another word.

 

But while it should’ve felt satisfying that she got the upper hand, somehow it wasn’t. Somehow it gnawed at her the rest of the day and Regina was never able to figure out why this was.

  
  


 

* * *

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

* * *

 

  
  


“Regina.”

 

“Mary Margaret,” Regina muttered off-handedly, ignoring the other woman’s presence otherwise.

 

Though when she tried to move past her, Regina was surprised to find Snow quickly sidestepping and blocking her way.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I uh..I was hoping we could talk? Outside maybe?”

 

“Truly dear? I do not have time for this,” Regina said in a cold tone. She had some pretty important matters to attend to and whatever this stammering fool of a woman had to say could likely wait. Though she did wonder for a moment why Snow was at the library in the first place.

 

“It’s important..” Snow tried. She turned her head sideways, and Regina noticed the quick glance she took over her shoulder before turning to face her again.

 

It was enough for Regina to become suspicious about Snow’s odd behavior. And before she was able to utter another word, Regina pushed her to the side and peered further into the library, trying to pinpoint what Snow had been looking at.

 

“You were trying to what...prevent me from seeing him?” Regina said as she spun on her heels and sneered at Snow White. “I was the Evil Queen dear, not the boogeyman,” she continued. Her mood was considerably souring as the woman in front of her fidgeted without even daring to look her in the eyes.

 

“I wasn’t trying to..”

 

“No?” Regina gave her an unimpressed look and crossed her arms. She was suddenly quite intrigued to hear why Snow was trying to prevent her from seeing Emma Swan’s son. Had this insufferable woman truly forgotten how she had given Henry and his mother fake memories even though she had nothing to gain from it.

 

“It’s not...urgh.”

 

Regina was taken by surprise when Snow suddenly halted mid-sentence and doubled over, clutching her stomach.

 

Her annoyance instantly changed to concern as Regina eyed Snow White’s protruding belly. “Are you alright?”

 

It wouldn’t be too long now before she was supposed to give birth, and the thought that something could be wrong with the baby overrode anything else. Even the loathing she still tried to pretend to feel towards the other woman, though her heart hadn’t been in it for a while now.

 

“I’m okay, I’m..” Snow whispered, her eyes peering through the curtain of dark hair obscuring her face as she looked up towards Regina.

 

“The baby?”

 

Smiling, Snow reached out for one of Regina’s wrists, and she was too surprised to react before one of her hands was pulled towards Snow’s belly. “What..” The rest of her words got lost as she felt the movements beneath her fingertips. Her mouth dropped open in surprise and she stared at Snow in quiet wonder.

 

“She has really been kicking a lot lately,” Snow said, smiling softly as she let go of Regina’s hand and caressed her belly. “Or at least David thinks it’s a girl. I still think it’s a boy.”

 

Dumbfounded, Regina quickly removed her hand again and stared at it for a moment, trying to process this strange turn of events. All the while her mouth kept opening in an effort to break this sudden lingering silence, but she hesitated every time, unsure of what she was even supposed to say.

 

After a few seconds, her eyes flickered from Snow to the empty information desk a few paces away and she remembered why she had gone to the library in the first place. Though Belle was nowhere in sight and Regina wondered if the bookworm was in the back cataloguing some books, or whatever it was that librarians did for a living.

 

“Regina,” Snow White’s voice rang out, and sighing under her breath she refocused her attention back to the woman still standing in front of her. “About before…”

 

On her own accord, Regina sought out the form in the back of the library, sitting all by himself at one of the tables, flipping through the pages of some book. His back was turned towards them and there was no reason for her to keep staring at him. But somehow she still did. Somehow she found herself captivated, and it wasn’t until Snow continued speaking that she managed to wrench her eyes away.

 

“I was trying to protect him.”

 

“From m..”

 

“No,” Snow interrupted her hastily and Regina pursed her lips, cocking her head as she waited for Snow to explain. “Henry’s been a bit...confused since he got his memories back. Things are hard for him. He’s trying to...adjust to living back in Storybrooke.”

 

“And you think when he sees me it will affect him negatively?” Regina queried as she shot another quick glance across her shoulder. She didn’t remember so many interactions with the boy, other than running into him a few times. Most of the times he had been accompanied by Emma or his grandparents. But the few times she had spoken to him alone he hadn’t shown any fear towards her, merely curiosity, which was why she didn’t at all understand Snow’s explanation on the situation.

 

“In a sense,” Snow hedged, and Regina noticed immediately how her fingers curled around the edge of her sweater in a nervous manner.

 

“What else are you hiding, hm?”

 

“Nothing, really.”

 

Shaking her head, Regina turned away from Snow and walked towards the information desk. “Still a terrible liar I see, even after all these years.”

 

“Regina..”

 

“I’m done talking to you Snow. Whatever it is that concerns you about Henry, you know as well as I do that I would never harm a child.”

 

“I do know that,” Snow’s voice rang out from somewhere behind her. Then there was nothing but silence as Regina peered into the large room behind the desk to see if she was able to spot Belle anywhere.

 

“I’m sorry,” Snow whispered, the words barely audible even in the otherwise silent room.

 

But it was loud enough for Regina’s head to snap up, and for her to turn around to ask Snow what she was sorry for. But Snow had already walked away and was standing next to Henry as she talked to him, hunched slightly over the table. Regina frowned deeply as she leaned back against the desk. They were talking about something in hushed voices and every now and then, Regina caught a quick stolen glance her way. Most of them by Henry. She had only locked eyes with him for a few seconds, but it was enough to convince her that he seemed...saddened by something. And she didn’t understand why the thought made her stomach turn into knots. She thought about it for a few seconds more, before shaking it off as something being related to the memories she had given to him a year ago.  

 

Belle however still seemed to be missing and Regina didn’t feel like scouring the entire library to find her. Especially because she knew convincing the woman to help her was going to be a daunting task in the first place. Muttering some expletives under her breath Regina was about to check into room behind the desk when she spied the bell in front of her. She pressed the button down and winced at the noise the damned thing produced. It was likely half the town had heard the ringing, which at least meant that Belle would’ve heard it as well.

 

“Remind me to get a replacement for that thing,” Belle said as she turned the corner, and Regina rose an eyebrow at the way she balanced a handful of books in one of her hands. The moment Belle saw her however, her face instantly pinched and she stopped in her tracks before she reached the desk.

 

“Whatever it is you want from me, I can tell you right now that the answer will be no,” Belle said and Regina was unsurprised when Belle placed the books she’d been holding on one side of the desk without so much as a glance her way. She had of course counted on Belle not cooperating in any form or way, but it still made things needlessly more complicated than they should be. Her eyes traced the abundance of hard lines drawn across Belle’s features, and Regina wondered absentmindedly if the girl was at all aware she’d been merely a pawn in the games she had once played with Rumplestiltskin.

 

When he had still been alive.

 

A twinge of sympathy flared up somewhere inside of her at the thought. Since she did miss him. The bastard. She missed him, and the part of her that had suffered so many unbearable losses herself, understood the sadness Belle seemed to exude.

 

“I do need your help with something,” she spoke up after studying Belle leafing through the books for a moment longer. It was meant to be said on a placating tone, but the way Belle’s head shot up and her eyes blazed fire, confirmed she hadn’t quite succeeded with her effort.

 

“Why should I help you with anything,” Belle hissed.

 

“Because this isn’t about me. The entire town is in danger right now.”

 

Though she left out the specifics, since she still wasn’t sure herself what this Wicked Witch might be after. The fact that none of them had any recollection of what had transpired during the year they had spent in The Enchanted Forest however had given her enough cause to worry. And now that she couldn’t ask the one person that usually had something to do with any strange occurrences in this town, she had to resort to a more crude approach.

 

She watched quietly as Belle seemed to struggle with something. One of her hands was flexing around the edge of a book on the desk, and the other was balled at her side as she continued to furiously stare at Regina. It was enough to make her uncomfortable. Enough to consider apologizing for everything that happened in the past between the two of them.

 

“I..” Regina scraped her throat and tried again, “I believe Gold would've had something in his vault that could be of help with identifying who this Wicked Witch might be, that seems to be behind everything that has been happening lately.”

 

“I don’t understand why you want my help with that,” Belle said, a frown creasing her brows. “I’m sure you could just use your magic to enter his vault, couldn’t you?”

 

“Perhaps,” Regina answered as she tapped her fingers across the desk, “or I could just ask you the key.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I’m not sure I understand what you are..”

 

She halted mid-sentence when Belle shook her head and walked around the desk, stopping just in front of her. “You do not actually need my help with any of this. So why are you truly here Regina.”

 

Curiously, Belle’s eyes flickered to something behind her, and Regina mused she was looking at Henry and Snow in the back of the library. It was only a second or two, but it was enough to make her glance in that direction as well. And it was only then that she realized that Snow was actually no longer inside the library and Regina had no idea how she had missed her leaving.

 

Henry was still there however, an wide assortment of books spread out in front of him. The other odd thing she noticed was that unlike before when he had been merely flipping through the pages, he was now scribbling things on what looked to be a notepad. Though she couldn’t make out the details from where she was standing.

 

“He’s been here a lot lately,” Belle mumbled, and Regina’s head whipped back around to face Belle again.

 

“What?” She questioned, unsure of why Belle was telling her this.

 

“Never mind...it’s not really important. But I suppose you could be right about the key. Rumple gave me a set of them a while ago, before he left with you all to Neverland.”

 

“One of them could be for his vault.” There was actually no doubt in her mind at all that one of them would indeed open the trapdoor to the basement full of trinkets that Rumple liked to keep locked away. Since there was only one person in Storybrooke to whom he would’ve entrusted the key.

 

“Is it protected by some spell?” Belle queried curiously as she walked to her jacket hanging on the coat-stand and fished around in the pockets of it.

 

“I do not believe so, no. It’s possible he placed wards on some of the more powerful artifacts. Or he could’ve simply hidden them more carefully, I do not know.” Or rather she had simply never been that interested in whatever things he had collected in his store, or vault for that matter. Since anything she might have asked for would have undoubtedly come with a price. And she had long since grown tired of playing along with any of his games.

 

Belle turned away from the coat-stand and dangled a large ring with an abundance of keys in front of her, “if I would not give these to you now, you would still be able to enter the vault?”

 

“Highly likely, yes.”

 

Though she hadn’t tried the skeleton keys she possessed herself, she actually doubted those would work on the locks Rumple was using. The smarmy imp had been way too clever and placed loopholes into the curse wherever it seemed convenient for himself, and she doubted this was an exception.

 

But Belle was right, she would most likely be able to use a little brute force magic to get past the door. It was her fallback plan, because a big part of her was expecting Belle to tell her off and just pocket the keys again. Thus she was all the more surprised when Belle palmed the keys with her other hand and then placed them on the surface of the desk right in front of her without so much as another word.

 

“Thank you,” she said on a sincere tone. Magic would’ve worked, but there had been the added risk that some of the items that laid below the trapdoor could’ve been damaged in the process. She knew a thing or two about the items Rumple had collected back when she had been his student, and some of them were highly susceptible to certain types of magic used on them.

 

Belle nodded and then started to stack some of the books on top of each other again.

 

And Regina watched her quietly for a long moment, before she grabbed the keys and placed them in one of her pockets.

 

“I might still need your help in the future,” she said, not even sure herself why she wasn’t leaving the library again now that she got what she came for. When there was no reaction forthcoming from Belle she continued, “we do not really know what we are dealing with right now Belle, and I know that..we don’t really see eye to eye, and you have every reason to hate me for what I’ve done to you, but I’m completely honest when I tell you this. If there is anything in this library that could help us figuring out why people keep disappearing and where they keep disappearing to, I would appreciate it.”

 

“I would’ve thought you to not care about what happens to the people in this town.”

 

“I suppose you could say they have grown on me,” Regina said, offering up a soft smile to accentuate that she wasn’t trying to be smug.

 

“I see,” Belle whispered. She seemed to contemplate something for a moment then, before placing her elbows on the desk and facing Regina again. “Every time I see you I’m reminded of all that time I spent down there,” she mumbled, her eyes becoming unfocused and brimming with unshed tears before she swiped at them with an angry gesture of one of her hands. “I do not know how I am ever supposed to move past that. How am I supposed to forget it...or forgive you for that.”

 

“I could tell you that it was never meant to be personal,” Regina offered up, not sure where any of this was coming from, but finding herself unable to stop either. “I could also tell you that while I felt no remorse in the past, I actually do feel sorry about it now. Though I’m not sure if it would be of any help to you.”

 

“It’s a start,” Belle said softly, her lips forming into a sad smile that never quite reached her eyes. Sniffling a little she wiped at her watery eyes once more before speaking again, “and I’ll see what I can do. If the library contains any of the books that Rumple gifted me back home, there might be some volumes about Oz in here as well."

 

Regina nodded. “If you find anything, let me know.” Her fingers curled around the heavy set of keys in her pocket and fished them out. “I will return these once I’m done,” she said, wishing not to hold onto them any longer than needed.

 

She stared at the dozens of similar looking keys dangling from her fingertips and sighed softly at the thought of having to sort through them all in order to find the right one.

 

With an imperceptible shrug Regina looked at the uncomfortable bundle of keys in her hand and turned towards the library doors, she had barely taken two steps towards them when a loud, hollow thump startled her out of her reverie and almost made her drop the keys. Immediately her head whipped towards the source of the sound and she muttered some curses under her breath when she noticed one of the books had fallen from the table Emma’s son was sitting at.

 

She flicked her eyes towards the desk but saw that Belle had disappeared again, and when it looked like the boy made no move himself to retrieve the book from the floor, she shook her head and made her way over to him.

 

“I sometimes wonder if she ever teaches you any manners,” she scolded him when she was close enough. Without waiting for a response she bent forward to grab the book and then placed it slowly back on the table. “A lot of these books are very valuable, they shouldn’t be treated like a child treats their toys.” She dusted off the cover of the book and tilted her head up to give him a stern look, but she was surprised to find him openingly staring at her with bright wide eyes instead of the remorseful expression she had hoped to find.

 

He stared at her for few more seconds, before opening his mouth, though all that came out was a stuttered “I-I...” and then his eyes darted away, and back to the notepad he had been scribbling on.

 

Crossing her arms, Regina quickly scanned the covers of the first few books of the largest stack piled on the desk, and huffed upon noticing the common denominator. “Even though it’s admirable that at least one person of your family shows interest in books, you should be attending school instead of reading fairy-tales.”

 

“But..” he started again, only to stop just as sudden as he had before. He wasn’t looking at her any more and she wondered what had caught his attention this time. At least until Belle walked around the table and placed her hands on Henry’s shoulders.

 

“He is working on a..project, it’s alright for him to be at the library during the school day.”

 

Regina watched for a moment as Henry kept looking up at Belle, until she rapped the keys in her hand against the tabletop and he quickly looked back towards her. “I see. Well, young man. I think we should then be more mindful of how we treat the property of others, isn’t that so?”

 

“Uhm..okay?” Henry muttered out, and Regina noticed how he once more sought out Belle with his eyes for some reason.

 

Regina smirked when he didn’t say anything else after that. “Very eloquent dear,” she remarked with a soft shake of her head, “you truly are your mother’s son.” Sliding the keys back into a pocket of her coat, Regina spun around to face Belle. She cocked her head at the librarian, “do keep my request in mind, won’t you?”

 

Belle inclined her head and Regina flashed her a radiant smile, “I will talk to you later.” She then turned her attention back toward Henry, gave him a nod and once again made her way towards the library doors.

 

“Bye mo..M-mayor Mills,” she heard him call after her just before she left the building.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Truly Sheriff Swan, a lovers quarrel in the hallway?” The mirrored looks of deers caught in the headlights as their heads swiveled around to face her, nearly made up for the annoyance she felt the moment she stumbled upon the scene.

 

They had fallen silent the moment she had spoken up, and the only sounds left were the steady clicking of her heels on the pale marble floor, and the muted murmurings of a group of people down the corridor.

 

“I know it’s only been a week and a half or so, but would it be too much to ask of you to actually do your job, hm?”

 

“It’s not what…” Emma spoke up just as Regina stopped in front of them. Placing her hands on her hips she lifted an eyebrow at Emma. She wasn’t at all impressed by the way Emma had stopped mid-sentence and exchanged a look with the pirate standing next to her.

 

“It’s not what?” Regina queried after a moment. Her interest was piqued when Emma fidgeted with her hands instead of responding. “What it looks like? Was that what you were going to say Sheriff?”

 

“I..”

 

“And why on earth did you bring this sad excuse for a pirate here?”

 

“I don’t understand why you won’t just tell her love, I mean it’s…ooff.” Hook receiving an elbow in his side effectively stopped him from saying anything else and if she hadn’t been suspicious before, this strange behavior by Emma increased it tenfold.

 

“Just..ignore him,” Emma muttered while tucking a few strands of blonde hair behind her ears. “He has someplace to be anyhow, right Hook?”

 

Regina narrowed her eyes when they exchanged another look and she thought she could make out some whispered words about retrieving something Emma had asked for, but not much else. The whole thing was raising her hackles however. She had kept some tabs on what Emma had been up to since she arrived back in town, and she was pretty sure most of it had nothing to do with her job as an Sheriff.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay around for a while longer, Swan?”

 

“No. Just go. Please, just do as I asked.”

 

It sounded almost pleading to Regina’s ears and she continued to flick her eyes from one to the other as they stared at each other for a few seconds longer. Then Hook inclined his head to Emma, though when he tried to do the same to her, she just shot him a warning glare and he shrugged before turning around and walking towards the exit.

 

“Would you mind explaining, Sheriff?”

 

Instead of looking at her, Emma’s eyes settled on one of the many colorful paintings decorating the hallway walls. “He’s just running some errands for me.”

 

“And you expect me to just believe that?”

 

“I..” Emma shook her head and Regina peered past the woman for a moment to watch some people milling about at the end of the hallway.

 

“Please, do continue,” she bit out sharply as she stared the woman down. “I do have somewhere else to be as well as you know.”

 

“Why do you think I would do that,” Emma finally spoke up. She stole a quick glance at Regina, the expression on her face strangely morose, then turned around and went back to staring at the painting again.

 

“Do what? Try and use your words dear.”

 

“When you..warned me, at your office, you said..” Emma halted, and Regina could hear her clearing her throat. “You warned me about conspiring against you. I’m trying to understand what makes you believe I would do that.”

 

“Did the new memories I gave you perhaps tamper with the old ones?” Regina replied. She studied Emma for a moment, trying to figure out if she was being toyed with or not. “I realize we did come to a truce of sorts in Neverland, but you must think me a fool to believe you wouldn’t stab me in the back the moment you got the chance.”

 

She still didn’t understand why this Emma was so different than the Emma she remembered from before the curse that took them all back to The Enchanted Forest. And though she knew it had been over a year, it still felt like only weeks had passed since their shouting matches in Neverland. Months since Emma had threatened to find a way to take away her magic and ruin her in every way possible.

 

Why then, was it that every time Emma looked at her now she lacked this spark of fury in her eyes which Regina was able to recall so vividly. It had to be because of what happened at the town line. Her offer to make the transition to a life outside Storybrooke more bearable. Though she wasn’t able to recall what she was thinking back then. Perhaps it was the way Henry had looked at his grandparents; his eyes filled with a sadness she hadn’t been able to bear. It was the same kind of sorrow which she had noticed Emma attempting to hide ever since her arrival back to town, and despite everything she couldn’t quell her curiosity as to what had brought on this sudden change.

 

She mused perhaps the woman was mourning the perfect, albeit fake, life she had left behind in New York. Perhaps her experiences during that year had changed her somehow. At the very least she was more meek than before. Not that Regina trusted her anymore than she had before. She still felt an uncontrollable urge to choke the life out of this damnable woman every time she laid eyes on her. But for the first time, she questioned why she felt this urge in the first place.

 

“Regina?”

 

“Hm?” She blinked and realised she had been staring at Emma for a few seconds too long perhaps.

 

“I was saying that we could uhm..extend this..truce.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Look, I don’t…” Emma puffed out a breath and her shoulders slumped. To Regina she suddenly looked far more tired than when she had first stumbled upon her and the insipid pirate talking mere minutes ago. “I don’t care about this crap from the past, what matters is this threat to the town right now. I also don’t care that you don’t want my help on this, because you’re going to have it anyway, all right?”

 

She was fairly sure her eyebrows had crawled into her hairline by the time Emma had stopped speaking. “Is that so?” she queried incredulously.

 

“You want to hear the details on what happened or not?”

 

“If this is your attempt to blackmail me..”

 

“No,” Emma muttered out in an agitated tone. “No, that’s not it at all, Jesus Christ, I hate that you don’t…” Emma shook her head and for a moment Regina thought that there had been tears shining in her eyes. But when Emma looked back at her a second later there was no trace left of them ever having been there.

 

“Don’t what? You called me here on the premise that there was an emergency but all you’ve done is make cryptic remarks. Frankly you are wasting my time dear. If this was some kind of trick to keep me occupied while that walking health hazard of a boyfriend of yours is trying to find some way to render my magic useless, I will make you both pay dearly for that mistake.”

 

“Render your magic useless?” Emma parroted back at her. “But that’s not…”

 

Agitated shouting from down the hallway interrupted whatever Emma was going to say next and Regina’s attention immediately shifted towards the commotion.

 

“What on earth is going on down there?!”

 

Emma pinched the bridge of her nose and walked towards the disturbance, apparently not waiting to see if Regina would follow after her. Before Regina had the opportunity to ask Emma what she thought she was doing, Emma beat her to it by speaking up first as they walked through the corridor.

 

“You can blame me for not thinking of the connection when I saw Walsh turn into a flying monkey in New York.”

 

“Meaning what exactly?” Regina questioned, but even as she asked the question something flickered to the forefront of her thoughts and her eyes widened while she shot a glance Emma’s way. “You’re trying to tell me that these flying flea-incubators are all citizens of this town?”

 

“Someone got hurt and they brought him to the hospital. They weren’t even able to get him into surgery before he transformed into a flying monkey and flew off.”

 

They stopped right in front of dozen people chattering amongst themselves without noticing they had company. Regina followed Emma’s eyes to a broken window, and any antagonism she felt towards the other woman momentarily vanished to the background as she tried to process this new piece of information.

 

“And what is the reason for this dwarf infestation,” she inquired when she turned to face the group of people. Half of them were dwarves and as with every time she had run ins with them, they seemed to be the loudest of the bunch.

 

“Because the person who got injured was Sneezy,” Emma supplied.

 

Emma then rubbed at her temples and faced the gathered crowd and much to Regina’s amusement, all of her attempts to get the attention of said crowd failed.

 

She took note of David standing towards the side, a gun holstered at his side, and a sword at his other and she rolled her eyes at the way he kept scanning the room for any danger. As far as heros went, he really was more brawn than brains. Snow was standing further away, near one of the emergency rooms, talking with the midwife who was helping her, though Regina didn’t pay them any mind.

 

She was more interested in how the dwarf had gotten his injuries, since they had made it explicitly clear during the last town-meeting to avoid the town-line for now. Had he been obeying that warning, it meant those injuries were sustained somewhere much closer to the town. Which meant that if these flying monkeys were unconditionally loyal to the Wicked Witch, then it would only be logical they were trying to keep any trespassers away from the hiding place of their mistress.

 

“If you think we’re just going to leave without getting any answers, you’ve got another thing coming, sister!”

 

Sighing, Regina reigned in the urge to turn every little one of the remaining midgets into an menagerie of harmless farm animals. Starting with the most annoying, and apparently most persistent one of them; Grumpy.

 

“And you will get them at the next town-meeting, now I want you to clear the area and let us do our..”

 

“Us?”

 

She smirked when Grumpy interrupted Emma and immediately shifted his attention to her instead of the Sheriff, to whom he’d been complaining for the past minute or so. From the corners of her eyes she caught Emma’s panicked look directed her way, though she assumed it was more for the Dwarf’s fate, rather than her own safety. In fact, she was secretly hoping the bearded nuisance would make some kind of fatal mistake, if only so she would have an excuse ready for when she set him on fire.

 

“You’re going to let her help? I don’t care what you say, she’s still an evil bitch! For all you know she’s respon..”

 

“Leroy!” Emma shouted. He was only able to take one more step her way before Emma interfered by yanking him away from her by his arm.

 

“You know Sheriff Swan,” she drawled lazily as she placed one of her hands on her side and cocked her head Emma’s way. “I do realize that this tendency to play the hero must be in your genes, but truly I wouldn’t mind if you just…” She flashed a grin towards the dwarf being held back and chuckled as he struggled even more in Emma’s grasp. “Set him free again. I’m sure we’ll be able to find a suitable way to settle our differences.”

 

“Yeah..not gonna happen,” Emma hissed, even as she shoved Leroy backwards against a wall. “We don’t need any more airborne dwarves today.”

 

“Hm,” Regina hummed, as she picked a little at her nails and waited to see what would happen next. She entertained the thought of riling up the dwarf a little more but when she shot a glance his way, the rest of the dwarves had conglomerated around him and David had stepped in as well to apparently defuse the tense situation.

 

“This is giving me a headache,” Emma muttered as she walked back up to her, “and you,” she said as Regina looked on unimpressed, “are making matters worse. And you would please stop staring holes into the back of Leroy’s head. I know he’s an asshole, but I’m seriously not looking forward to scraping his bits of the wall and explaining what happened to the remaining dwarves.”

 

“I appreciate the vote of confidence pertaining to the results of any confrontations between the dwarf and I.”

 

“Yes, because that’s the point I was trying to bring across.”

 

“Everything okay?” Snow asked, and Regina resisted the urge to make herself scarce. There were still a few more things she needed cleared up before she was able to take her leave again, and unfortunately that meant putting up with the Charmings.

 

“Yeah, I think David has managed to calm them down for now,” Emma said. She glanced over to the dwarves, and Regina noticed her eyes shooting towards the broken window again before she turned around to face them while softly shaking her head. “It seems we do have another problem though.”

 

“The monkeys?” Snow asked and her gaze seemed to fixate on the gurney flipped on its side near one of the walls. It was in the middle of an assortment of scattered bloodied gauzes and other medical supplies that still hadn’t been cleaned up even an hour later.

 

“For all we know they could all be missing people from this town.”

 

Snow’s eyes went comically wide at Emma’s words, but all Regina was able to focus on was how this was going to complicate matters a lot more.

 

“Oh God...you..y-you can’t harm them.”

 

She was fairly sure those words were meant for her and Snow giving her a pointed look pretty much confirmed that suspicion. Narrowing her eyes, Regina pursed her lips and just stared Snow down. They couldn’t possibly be serious about this she thought as her eyes flickered from Emma to Snow with growing aggravation.

 

“Technically, I would assume they could survive a fireball or two.”

 

“Regina!”

 

Snorting, she threw both mother and daughter a disgusted look and walked towards the trashed gurney Snow had been checking out moments before. “I do wonder if there is a way to turn them back. Perhaps that is something we should be focusing on instead. Although I’m not opposed to some attempts at capturing one of them and seeing if they might lead us to the witch in hiding.”

 

“Mary Margaret is right though, Regina, you can’t harm them. Nor can anyone else, which might be something we should spread across the town.”

 

“Another town-meeting?” Snow suggested.

 

“Ugh, people are going to panic once they find out that being attacked by those furballs can turn them into those things. Not to mention that they can’t even properly defend themselves because they might be harming their missing family or friends.” Emma cursed und mumbled something under her breath that Regina wasn’t able to understand.

 

She bent down to retrieve one of the gauzes lying on the ground, holding it by the clean end and took note of the amount of blood-stained bandages lying at her feet, as well as the blood spatters staining the otherwise pristinely clean marble floor. “He must have been badly injured,” she concluded out loud, having tuned out the conversations going on in the background. “Which means he couldn’t have walked that far.”

 

“Leroy says he was walking along one of the roads leading away from some of the outlying farm fields,” David spoke up behind her. “One of the farmers found him and brought him to the hospital.”

 

“Hmm,” Regina murmured as she contemplated her options.

 

She vaguely registered the ringtone of a phone going off as she tapped her fingernails against the metal of the overturned gurney and stood back up. A part of her almost desperately wanted to drive over to the location where they had found the injured dwarf. But another part of her mused that this Wicked Witch had remained hidden for so long; surely they wouldn’t uncover her hiding-place this easily. Besides, an encounter with their adversary without knowing anything about her or the powers she possessed seemed unwise to her at this point. She needed to know more, and she also knew whom to talk to achieve exactly that.

 

“That was Henry,” Emma said. Her eyes immediately found Regina’s and she frowned in confusion at the odd expression passing across Emma’s face.

 

“Something the matter?” She asked when Emma kept staring at her. Her lips twitched as if poised to say something but she remained silent.

 

“Emma honey?”

 

That at least seemed to snap Emma out of whatever funk she had been in. Curiously, there were twin expressions of concern etched across David and Snow’s faces, and Regina wondered if she had missed a viable clue somewhere as to what was going on.

 

“It’s..it’s nothing really. He was just worried,” Emma said. Though Regina recognized deflecting when she saw it. Especially since Emma suddenly dipped her head and avoided any and all eye-contact. “He heard what happened and wanted to know if everything was alright.”

 

“You still up for checking out the location where they found Sneezy?” David asked.

 

“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea right now,” Regina interrupted before Emma could answer. “We do not know what we are dealing with yet,” she clarified when she received a few confused glances her way.

 

“We can just scout around a little, maybe take Ruby and see if she can catch a trail leading somewhere. It’s better than sitting around and doing nothing,” Emma added after a moment when it seemed Snow was going to protest.

 

Regina rolled her eyes. She had better things to do than try and talk these stubborn fools out of doing something idiotic. “Please do try to not get yourself turned into flying monkeys. It’s already hard enough for me to resist the urge to cull the herd.”

 

She turned to walk back towards the exit, but Emma calling her name made her stop halfway down the corridor.

 

“I uhm..” Emma stuttered and wrung her hands. “Henry’s call reminded me of something I had been meaning to ask you.”

 

“Oh?” Regina queried as she furrowed her brows. She wondered if this was about her encounter with Emma’s son a few days ago at the library. Emma had attempted to talk to her a few times after their confrontation at her office and she mused one of those attempts might’ve had something to do with Henry.

 

“He was really upset the other day Regina.”

“Because of what I said to him because I…”

 

“No,” Emma cut her off and Regina pursed her lips and waited. “That’s not it at all. But all of this is hard on him okay? So I would just appreciate it if you avoided talking to him.”

 

“For now…please?” Emma added after a second, and then her eyes drifted. Drifted along the windows to the end of the corridor and Regina swore Emma looked saddened by something again. She mused it must be the memories which Emma had of an uncomplicated life in New York. Away from Wicked Witches and flying monkeys, and all the other crap that went on in Storybrooke.

 

“I suppose I can do that,” she said as she met Emma’s eyes in the reflection of the window for a second.

 

Emma nodded and Regina thought that there might have been a whispered thank you, but it didn’t really register. Her eyes had turned away but Regina kept staring at Emma’s reflection. Kept searching for something, though she didn’t understand what it might be. There should’ve been that familiar loathing she felt every time she laid eyes on Emma Swan, and though it was there, it was fairly faint and she just couldn’t muster up the energy to throw scathing insults her way.

 

“Why hasn’t she made a move yet.”

 

Which was actually a surprisingly good question. It had been something on her mind ever since they had found out about the flying monkeys and deduced that the Wicked Witch had somehow hitched a ride with them back to Storybrooke.

 

“I mean, so far she has the upper hand. We don’t even know their plans or anything. But..” Emma stopped and seemed to contemplate something. “Why hasn’t she made a move yet,” she repeated. “It’s almost like..like..”

 

“She’s waiting for something?” Regina finished as she tried to follow Emma’s thought-process. For a moment she had all but forgotten whom she was talking to. But then she blinked and cleared her thoughts. She glanced at Emma standing right next to her and remembered all the reasons she should tell this woman off instead of spending even more time talking about things that wouldn’t attribute to anything.

 

“Yeah I think it’s exactly that,” Emma muttered.

 

Though Regina wasn’t really listening to what she was saying anymore.

 

“Where are you going?” Emma called after her.

 

“To get some answers,” she replied cryptically and calmly continued on towards the exit.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Did you find anything useful?”

 

The question was directed at Belle, but the man standing near the desk turned around instead. He stared at her wide-eyed for a second or two before mumbling something and scrambling past her. She caught Belle’s amused glance before the librarian refocused her attention back on the paperwork in front of her.

 

“Someone you know?” Belle asked, as she riffled through a stack of papers.

 

“Someone that knows me, I would assume.”

 

“Ah, and to answer your question, no, actually.”

 

“And you didn’t think to inform me of this?” Regina queried, unable to keep the irritation out of her voice.

 

“You don’t underst..”

 

“No, you do not understand,” she hissed as she threw her hands up in frustration, “you are wasting my time.”

 

“I didn’t find anything, Regina,” Belle said in a surprisingly calm tone. “That’s my whole point, there should’ve been something at least, but there wasn’t.”

 

Tapping her fingers on the desk, Regina’s flicked her eyes around the library. There had to be thousands of books here at least, and likely thousands more in storage. How was it…

 

“I can show you my findings.”

 

“Fine,” Regina huffed, “lead the way.”

 

While she followed after Belle, her eyes briefly settled on the table Henry had sat at a few days ago and she thought of what Emma had asked of her. She did a quick replay of events and couldn’t find anything wrong with what she had said to him. Perhaps she had been a bit too strict when she had scolded him?

 

The strangest thing was how she remembered Henry from before Pan’s curse had struck. He had been happy when she had observed him, and unguarded the few times she remembered speaking to him one on one. But during the encounter in the library he had been reserved and even skittish.

 

The change in behavior hadn’t really registered with her until now, but now that she thought about it, the differences were rather glaring. Then again, she supposed there had to be some truth in Emma’s explanation. That he was having a difficult time adjusting, because they had lived a wholly different life in New York for a year.

 

The storage room was bigger than she remembered it being. Though her last visit was a long time ago. In fact she couldn’t recall ever setting foot in it after she had cast the initial curse. Perhaps rooms would be more correct, since it was a set of them, connected by a small corridor that led right through them. It reminded her more of a warehouse than a storage room, and the sheer amount of books that were contained within it rendered her speechless.

 

“Look at this Regina,” Belle spoke up as they stood almost in the middle of the large room.

 

She followed Belle’s line of sight towards the glaring empty space left on one of the shelves. Almost all of them were covered in dust, but the empty space was surprisingly devoid of it. It actually looked cleaned out somehow and when Regina thought of what could have done this, it caused a shiver to pass across her spine.

 

“There are three more instances of missing books exactly like this. One of the spaces is a little bigger than the others, I think two or more books might have vanished from it. But that’s what I was trying to tell you,” Belle said, appearing ill at ease as she bent down and traced the empty place on the shelf. “I didn’t notice at first, because I was too occupied with trying to find any volumes on Oz. But when I walked to the room at the end yesterday, my eyes fell on one of the empty spaces and I found the others after taking stock of the rest of rooms.”

 

“This Wicked Witch appears to be one step ahead of us,” Regina said. She was actually impressed. But at the same time she also mused that there had to be a reason the books were removed in the first place. Which meant they had been on the right track. Not that it mattered much anymore, she thought sourly as she eyed the dust free spot on the shelf.

 

“Not necessarily,” Belle replied, and Regina was intrigued by the way Belle’s lips transformed into a knowing grin.

 

“Oh? Something you’d like to share dear?”

 

“Yes, there are actually places I would figure not even a Wicked Witch knows about. Places that might just house a few books that Rumple wouldn’t want falling into someone else’s hands.”

 

“And you know of a few of such places I would presume?”

 

But instead of answering her, Belle removed a set of very familiar keys from her pocket and Regina’s eyes sparkled with mirth at the thought of finally catching a lucky break.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Sheriff Swan.”

 

She was unable to contain her surprise upon finding a soaked Emma Swan standing on her porch. When she had quickly tucked the book she had been reading under her arm and rushed towards the door, she had expected some kind of emergency. The knocking had been persistent and continuous, sounding almost desperate in it’s intensity. And she considered the possibility of having missed a phone call while she had been focused on studying one of Rumple’s books.

 

“Uh..hi, can I come in? It’s pouring out here.”

 

Rain-slicked tendrils of hair were clinging to Emma’s face and her cheeks had turned a soft rosy color. Wary eyes skittered around the hallway and never settled on anything for too long before moving on and Regina wasn’t sure what to make of her behavior. Or Emma’s sudden appearance on her doorstep at this hour of the night.

 

“Whatever the purpose of your visit might be, I’m sure it can wait until the morning,” Regina said. She had a few more books to go, and Emma’s appearance was once more throwing a wrench in her schedule for the evening.

 

“Look..I’ll be quick about it okay? Just let me in for a moment, I’m freezing and..” A sudden thunderstrike in the distance made her jump up slightly and go wide-eyed. “Not to mention I really hate thunder,” she added after wiping some raindrops away from her face.

 

“Fine,” Regina huffed. She stepped aside and watched warily as Emma walked through the hallway, before closing the door. “I assume this has to do with your trip to the countryside?”

 

“A little?” Emma hedged and Regina narrowed her eyes. “We didn’t really find anything. Ruby lost the track halfway down one of the fields. She said it was really odd, like it suddenly just stopped.”

 

“Magic.”

 

“Yeah I guess that could be it. We searched a few of the farms for signs of anything suspicious but it all turned up empty.”

 

Blowing out a breath of frustration, Regina walked towards the study. She figured she might as well sort out some of the books while Emma babbled on. Though she did hope for the Sheriff’s sake she had something useful to contribute.

 

“I suppose it’s worth a look to see what kind of magic was used there. It could be a very specific spell used for..” She trailed off when she noticed she was speaking without an audience, and her eyes shot towards the doorway in confusion.

 

“Emma?” She queried. Walking back towards the hallway she noticed Emma had stopped next to a small painting hanging on one of the walls. She appeared deeply disturbed by something and Regina stopped in her tracks when she spied the telltale signs of unshed tears appearing in Emma’s eyes.

 

“I uhm..” Emma sniffled a little, then wiped at her eyes and Regina got the uneasy feeling in her stomach that there was more to this. That there was something Emma was hiding from her. It was the same kind of feeling she had had ever since Emma’s return in town.

 

“Are hiding something from me.”

 

“No, it’s..” Emma swallowed, and walked into the living room without another word.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Regina fulminated.

 

“How..” Emma whispered so softly Regina had trouble understanding her. “How is this..it’s all gone. It’s all..”

 

She was staring at the walls covered by an assortment of paintings and then walked towards one of the small tables standing against the wall. There was a vase with flowers standing on it, but Emma’s hands seemed to reach for something that wasn’t there.

 

“Regina..” Emma’s voice sounded so small and childlike, that something twisted in her gut and she didn’t know how to respond. She couldn’t find the words and when Emma turned around, with tears running down her face and ran past her towards the door, she looked on in stunned surprise.

 

“Emma…” She called after her, but the door falling into the lock was the only answer she received.

 

And then she was left alone in the middle of her living room, wrapping her arms around herself and feeling more confused than ever.

  
  


* * *

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments and speculation so far, I got a kick out of reading all the theories and such.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


She heard the steady sound of something thrown repeatedly against a wall even before reaching the Sheriff’s office. Though it wasn’t until she reached the door, which was left wide open, that she caught a glimpse of what was going on.

 

“I suppose I should be thrilled that you actually showed up to work today, instead of having your parents cover for you with a few feeble excuses.”

 

The tennis-ball Emma had been throwing against the floor and wall went uncaught the moment she spoke up and Regina grinned when Emma turned around in her chair to face her. For a moment the only sound that remained was the ball bumping against the furniture somewhere before it rolled away under a desk.

 

“Didn’t think the town meeting was important enough for you to show up, did you?” Regina continued when Emma just kept staring at her, seemingly stunned speechless for some reason.

 

Her mind briefly flashed back to the latest occasion she had seen Emma, in her mansion, tears flowing freely across her face before she had made a run for it. She still wasn’t sure what had happened there, although it had increased her suspicions that Emma was hiding something from her. Which was why she had gone to Emma’s apartment the day after to confront her, only to have the ringing of the doorbell remain unanswered. Emma hadn’t shown up to work that day, nor to the town-meeting later that evening. All in all she had enough of it, and she had been seriously contemplating making good on her threat of firing Emma from her position of Sheriff.

 

“I..wasn’t feeling too well.”

 

“Would that also be the reason why you ran out of my house whilst having some kind of mental breakdown, hm?”

 

Instead of answering her, Emma looked past her for a moment, before ducking her head and flicking some imaginary lint away from her navy-blue sweater.

 

“If you think I will be satisfied with you staying silent instead of actually answering my questions you really don’t know me too well, now do you dear? I would suggest you to start talking. As the Mayor, I’m still the leading authority in this town and you do still answer to me in the end, is that clear?”

“Nothing I could tell you would help in any shape or form,” Emma stated after a few more seconds of silence and Regina found herself a little taken aback by the sheer bitterness that was attached to the words. “You have no idea how much of a freaking struggle it is that I can’t.. that I can’t explain what’s going on, to you.”

 

“Well,” Regina stated coolly as she leaned back against one of the desks and leveled an icy glare Emma’s way, “I would suggest you to at least try or find yourself without a job. I will not tolerate your strange behavior any longer, Sheriff. You can start by telling me just what it was that you were hoping to find at my house. Since I’m assuming when you brought up having some news pertaining to the Wicked Witch situation, it was just a ruse for you to gain access to my house and belongings for some reason.”

 

“That’s not at all why I..”

 

She was next to Emma’s desk in a few quick angry strides. “Stop lying,” she bellowed out, rage rolling across her entire body in thick furious waves.

 

“I’m not lying,” Emma shouted back. She rose from the desk and Regina noticed how her fingers dug into the wood of the desk until her knuckles turned white. “I simply can’t tell you yet. Fuck..you wouldn’t believe me anyway,” Emma said in an almost subdued tone, her eyes averted to one of the walls.

 

Nostrils flaring with barely restrained anger, Regina thought of magically hoisting Emma up by her throat and trapping her against the wall until she got some satisfying answers, but the ringtone of a phone going off brought her out of that state of mind again.

 

“Yeah?” Emma answered, and Regina rolled her eyes in response.

 

Crossing her arms, she paid careful attention to the conversation Emma was having on the phone.

 

“Tink..that’s not possible,” Emma gasped out in surprise and Regina’s eyebrows rose as she tried to think of how the green fairy featured in all of this. “I’ll..I’m coming over, j-just stay put, okay?”

 

It wasn’t until Emma broke off the call again that Regina noticed the absolutely horrified expression on Emma’s face. She had gone white as a sheet and the hand holding the phone was shaking so violently, Regina thought that she might drop it at any moment.

 

“Do you mind explaining what is going on Sheriff Swan? More conspiracies?”

 

“I..” Emma didn’t say anything else but ran towards the door without another word.

 

“Just where the hell do you think you’re going!” Regina yelled after her.

 

Emma’s quick departure had completely taken her by surprise, and by the time she arrived at the parking-lot to try and confront her, Emma was already gone.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


She knew her hunch about Emma having left for the convent was the right one when she spotted the patrol-car parked haphazardly across the curb. Muttering some expletives, she parked the Benz meticulously and slowly in the proper parking-space herself, though inwardly she was fuming with pent-up rage about Emma’s behavior. One way or another, she thought as she looked up to the steps leading towards the convent, she was going to get some answers.

 

She tugged at the belt holding her coat together, making it wrap a little tighter around herself. It was still too cold for this time of the year, and the harsh biting winds weren’t doing any favors for the temperature either. She thought of the hurried way in which Emma had left the station, completely forgoing the coat that had been left behind on the coat-rack and shook her head.

 

Agitated shouting carried by the wind made her pick up her pace, though she barely reached the top of the stairs before she spied Emma, easily recognized by her blonde hair and blue sweater, running off towards what she assumed was the entrance of the convent.

 

A fresh surge of anger overcame her and for a moment she thought about teleporting herself into the building and confronting the damnable woman right there and then. But then her eyes caught the path leading towards the convent and confusion instantly replaced the anger. On the frozen patch of grass, below one of the leafless trees was Tinker Bell, sitting on her haunches and hovering over another fairy; slumped with their back against the tree.

 

“Tink?” She questioned carefully. She was unsure if the green fairy had even noticed her arrival at all and despite their differences both in the past and in Neverland, she liked to think they had arrived at some middle ground of mutual respect. The fact the fairy was mumbling to herself, clearly distressed and tapping the cheek of the other fairy, was enough for her to realize something had to be terribly wrong.

 

“Regina?” came the startled response. Then Tinker Bell stood up and turned around to face her.

 

“I demand some answers as to what is going on, Tinker Bell,” she started right away.Though she knew it wasn’t the right way to open a conversation, especially when the person she was attempting to interrogate was wringing their hands in an agitated manner. “I’m tired of being lied to, so don’t even attempt to mislead me.”

 

“Did Emma tell you…” There was a visible swallow, with Tinker Bell’s eyes flicking towards the path bending around the convent towards the entrance and Regina’s cocked her head. “She didn’t did she?”

 

Tink sighed, and Regina closed her eyes in response and mentally counted to ten.

 

“What happened here?”

 

“I..I don’t know.” She wanted to call Tinker Bell out on her lies, but the confusion and helplessness that passed across the green fairy’s features was sign enough that she was actually speaking the truth. “I got here around half an hour ago, and found them all like this.”

 

“All?”

 

“Yes, I went inside for help after I arrived here and found Nova unconscious outside. Every single fairy inside the convent is in the exact same state. I think it’s some kind of sleeping spell? Nothing seems to wake them up.”

 

“It could be,” Regina replied thoughtfully.

 

She frowned and squatted on the ground in front of the sleeping fairy lying against the tree. In the back of her mind there was still the question about what Emma Swan’s role was in all this, but for the moment the powerful magic required to put other magical beings to sleep like this had her full attention.

 

“Curious,” she muttered, when after two subsequent flicks of her wrist the fairy didn’t even show a sign of being on the brink of waking up. She had used the basic counter against sleeping spells and the fact it didn’t work worried her more than she wanted to let on. Already, she had a sneaking suspicion who could be behind this. The reason still eluded her however.

 

“Do you think they might wake up on their own eventually?” Tinker Belle asked.

 

“There is a possibility that might happen, yes.”

 

“In Neverland, Pan used powerful sleeping spells that could keep people under for many hours, sometimes even days. I was never able to wake up the few boys I found under that kind of spell. He used it to sow fear amongst the ranks, since he claimed that it was randomly decided whether the person would actually wake up again. Pan said that people would eventually die if they didn’t wake up. Whenever there was dissent, he picked one of the Lost Boys responsible and cursed them with that spell.”

 

“Pan is dead however,” Regina replied, “and this spell somehow feels...different, more like something I would use myself. Just..a lot more powerful,” she admitted reluctantly as she stood up and patted herself down. “Which reminds me.” She turned and faced Tinker Bell fully, while narrowing her eyes at the fairy. “What might be the reason the Wicked Witch suddenly decides to come out of wherever she’s been hiding and curse a convent full of fairies. If she had deemed you a possible threat, I can only assume she would’ve taken far more drastic measures of taking you out of the equation.”

 

“I uhmm.” Tinker Bell’s eyes drifted again and Regina took a step closer to her in response.

 

“I assume the same reason Emma is here?”

 

“You should..” The fairy bit her lip and looked down at her folded hands. “Talk to her.. I can’t say much else. I was just..trying to help.”

 

“Help with what?”

 

But the only answer was Tink’s silence and Regina balled her hands to fists in utter aggravation. “I will find out what you are hiding from me, and trust me when I say this, you overgrown firefly, I will also make you pay dearly if I find out you are trying to cross me somehow.”

 

She didn’t even wait for an answer this time and walked towards the direction she had seen Emma disappear to. The big wooden door was open barely a sliver, and despite knowing that whomever had cursed the fairies were likely long gone by now, she was still left with an easy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Swallowing, she pulled off her leather gloves and stuffed them into one of her coat’s pockets. There was no sense in burning a perfectly sensible set of gloves to a crisp unless it was absolutely necessary, and she did like to be prepared. Just in case.

 

The door opened with a creak, making her cringe at the obnoxiously loud sound as it echoed around the empty hallways. From the corners of her eyes she saw another fairy lying crumpled to a heap further down the hallway, but it seemed pretty deserted otherwise. Her attention was drawn towards what sounded like shards of glass being crushed by someone walking over them.

 

She followed the sounds towards a small non-descript room at the very end of the hallway. The door was wide open, and her eyes immediately fell on a crouched down Emma Swan, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had company. The room itself was an utter mess. The stark white plastered walls were streaked with dark colors, as if someone had thrown small amounts of paint against them. Broken glass seemed to occupy every inch of the grey marble floor. And in the back of the room there was a small wooden bench with the singed remains of alchemic devices littered across all over it.

 

“Sheriff Swan?” She spoke up. Her voice was firm but still soft enough as to not suddenly spook the other woman.

 

“It’s all for nothing,” Emma mumbled, and Regina wondered if she even heard her at all. “There’s nothing left…There’s nothing left.”

 

“Emma,” Regina tried again. Though when there was no response she trudged across the room, mindful of the large amount of sharp glass sticking up everywhere.

 

“There’s nothing left of it,” Emma muttered, and it was only when Regina stepped around her that she saw what Emma was doing.

 

To her utter horror Emma was digging around in the glass shards, as if she was trying to find something and her chest lurched at the sickening sight. Blood was flowing freely across her hands and arms in small red rivulets, with shards of glass sticking out of her fingers and the palms of her hands at odd angles. There was a small, but growing, puddle of blood where she was digging and her own blood ran cold and she gasped out, horrified.

 

“Stop!” She called out and reached for Emma’s wrists. “Just stop.” Pain-filled hazel eyes finally seemed to register her presence, but instead of saying anything Emma wrenched herself loose and ran away.

 

Trail of red drops, standing out against the shards of broken glass was all which was left behind and Regina was too surprised to stop her.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


She stared at the wine in the glass for the upteenth time over the past few minutes but still didn’t take a sip. Instead she placed the still full glass down and frowned at the sentence she had been attempting to read. The letters danced in front of her eyes and sighing softly, she removed the glasses from the bridge of her nose and folded them, before placing them on the table as well. She thought it had to be a sign that she was too restless to even read a little and take her mind off things. Take her mind of everything that had happened during the day.

 

Rubbing her temples she thought about watching a little tv instead, but a sudden hard knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and made her jump up a little in her chair. She swore her heart had skipped a few beats in the process as well. There was another knock, even as she stood up and walked towards the foyer, though it sounded fainter than the last. It was followed almost immediately by the muffled sound of something sliding down against the door and Regina picked up her pace.

 

Opening the door, she was surprised to find Emma Swan slumped against it, and falling backwards into the house a second later. There was a soft grunt and then unfocused hazel eyes stared up at her, a lazy giddy smile slowly creeping up around the corners of Emma’s mouth.

 

“R’Gina, hi.”

 

“Are you..” Regina closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “of course you are inebriated.” She opened her eyes again and only then noticed the bandages wrapped sloppily across both of Emma’s hands, a little blood seeping through them at places.

 

“Needed to..s-see you,” Emma slurred as she tried to stand up and Regina rolled her eyes at the way Emma swayed on her legs.

 

“I do think that can wait until you have a few brain-cells that actually work properly.”

 

She wasn’t going to fool herself into thinking that she would be able to get anything out of the woman in this state. No matter the questions which burned on her tongue. For one, she still hadn’t figured out what had been going on at the convent. Her second encounter with the green fairy had proven fruitless and the only thing she had managed to secure from Tinker Bell was the promise for an update when the sleeping spells wore off.

 

“It’s...important.”

 

For some reason Emma walked back outside and Regina watched the unsteady movements wearily, unsure of what to do. The decision was made for her when Emma sagged through her knees and Regina only barely managed to catch her and carefully maneuver Emma’s boneless form against the outside wall of her house.

 

“I do not think it will be wise for you to attempt to wander home all by yourself,” she spoke up, even though she doubted Emma would really pick up on what she was saying.

 

Rolling her eyes heavenwards she bent over and proceeded to pat down Emma’s black coat, thankful that the woman had at least gone back to the station at some point to pick it up, before going on her drinking-binge.

 

“That tickles,” Emma giggled as she clumsily swatted at Regina’s hands.

 

“I am going to derive some pleasure from the mental imagery of you waking up tomorrow with a massive hangover. At least the thought will make this somewhat more bearable,” she muttered sourly as she finally managed to fish Emma’s phone from one of the pockets lining the inside of her coat.

 

“22 missed calls,” she said, sighing once more. “I’m assuming you didn’t even bother telling your idiotic parents where you were. At least it proves once more to me that you really are their child.”

 

All the she got in return was a soft grunt.

 

She dialed back the last missed call and cursed under her breath at having to talk to either Snow or David. The alternative was leaving their accursed child on her doorstep and risk having her freeze to death at some point during the night.

 

“Emma! Where are you? Where have you..”

 

“It’s not Emma, dear,” Regina interrupted Snow’s worried rambling. “Though your foolish progeny is currently residing at my residence, too inebriated to walk properly.”

 

“She’s…” There was silence followed by some muffled conversations in the background and for a brief moment Regina thought of hanging up in frustration. “We’ll come and pick her up in a few minutes.”

 

“Please do be quick about it, if she empties her stomach contents on my property I will have you clean every last bit of it, understood?”

 

More silence, though she heard the rustling of clothes and the clinking of a set of keys in the background. “We’ll be right there Regina, thank you.” And then Snow hung up and Regina was left staring at the phone in disbelief.

 

A moan of pain drew her attention back to Emma. She was trying to grab onto the walls somehow with her bandaged hands, not managing to get too far before she fell back down again.

 

“Would you please stop moving.”

 

“Re-gina, you’re..really here,” Emma muttered, her glassy eyes seemingly attempting to focus on Regina’s form. “I need to..” she trailed off, and tried to put her right hand down in an attempt to rise up.

 

“Emma..” Regina growled out.

 

The wince of pain that passed across Emma’s face made her scowl for a second before she made up her mind and lowered onto her haunches in front of the woman. “I will do you yet another small favor and heal your injuries, but come tomorrow we will have a serious talk about what you have been upto lately. And do not for one moment think I will accept you running away again, I will have some answers from you.”

  
  


Emma hummed softly, but otherwise didn’t respond. At least not until she attempted to remove the bandages to take a closer look.

 

“Hurts.”

 

“Perhaps you should’ve thought of that before you went digging through a sea of glass.”

 

Ignoring Emma’s feeble attempts at stopping her, Regina slowly unravelled the bandages. She was dismayed with the sheer amount of cuts littering Emma’s hands. For a moment there was none of the ever-lingering irritation she usually felt around this woman, none of the loathing. She actually felt a strange sense of compassion, she couldn’t imagine the amount of pain Emma was likely in and wondered if that had been one of the reasons she had drank herself into a stupor.

 

Luckily for them both, at least Emma had removed most of the glass before wrapping the bandages around her hands. Though she still found a few of the smaller pieces scattered in the wounds and with a small swipe of her hand she magically made them float upwards, followed by another motion which threw them away to her side. Emma had stopped struggling at some point, though she still whimpered a little in pain but Regina paid her no mind. She turned over Emma’s hands and inspected them before she used one of the few healing spells she had access to and made the cuts disappear entirely. The blood-soaked bandages on the ground were the only sign of them ever having been there in the first place.

 

“Thank..you,” Emma said, a small smile gracing her features as she flexed her newly-healed hands.

 

“Don’t thank me yet I’m not..” She wasn’t able to get out more, because the moment she pulled her hands away from where they had been hovering above Emma’s own, Emma grabbed one of her wrists and stopped her.

 

“I..I..failed, didn’t I?” Emma said softly. Her voice cracked before she managed to get out the last word and Regina felt as if time stood still when Emma’s eyes caught her own. They were filled with pain, but it wasn’t like before. She recognized this kind of pain, because it had been much like her own whenever she had looked into a mirror.

 

“Failed..Henry,” Emma continued and Regina was unable to tear her gaze away, even as Emma’s eyes started to brim with unshed tears. “Failed...you.”

“I’m not sure what you are..” Pursing her lips, Regina wondered if Emma was even aware of what she was saying. She pried Emma’s fingers away from her wrist and stood back up. “You are drunk, Sheriff Swan, I don’t think..”

 

“N-ot drunk enough. I s-still remember.”

 

“You’re also not making any sense. I think we’re done for now, your parents will be here soon to pick you up.”

 

“N-not d-done.” Emma’s teeth were chattering as she spoke and though she had ignored the numbing cold up until now, she was rapidly starting to lose warmth herself as well.

 

She had half turned around to go back inside when her eyes briefly flicked to Emma, who had pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped arms around them. Even with the coat, she looked to be freezing and Regina knew the alcohol consumed combined with her prolonged exposure to the cold hard concrete didn’t help matters much. Cursing under her breath, she walked inside and grabbed a plaid from the couch in the living room, then made her way back to Emma. Ignoring the stuttering from the woman, she wrapped the plaid around the shivering form to the best of her abilities.

 

“Re-gina..” Emma tried again, her head tilting up to look at Regina. “I..messed up.”

 

“Indeed you did.”

 

“Not..this. I needed to..forget. But..but.” She wondered if the cold had cleared away some of the fogginess in Emma’s brain, the way her eyes suddenly seemed much clearer than they had been minutes before. “You will never..remember,” Emma’s voice hitched and there were more tears and Regina wanted to look away. She wanted to go inside or look away, but she found herself unable to do either one of those things. “Your life with..Henry..with me.”

 

“What are you..talking about?” In the back of her mind there was a voice telling her to just step back inside and ignore the incoherent ramblings of a drunk woman. But at the same time, something about Emma’s words, something about the sincerity in them, the pain that shone through with every spoken word made her stay.

 

“I..love you, and you..l-l..” There was a hitched sob and then Emma started to shake almost violently as tears ran down her cheeks unchecked. “And y-you won’t remember.”

 

“You’re not making any sense,” Regina said after a moment. A moment in which she contemplated that Emma might be speaking the truth, but then dismissed it just as fast. Emma was drunk and perhaps even a tinge delirious from her exposure to the cold.

 

“You..have to..” Emma tried to work herself upright again, but sagged back down, a defeated expression on her face.

 

Dimly, Regina was aware of a car stopping close by. Though she didn’t turn to see for herself. There were too many conflicting issues cluttering up her thoughts for her to do much of anything.

 

She didn’t actually move at all until Snow’s voice rose above the sound of Emma’s sobbing.

 

“Emma..oh Emma,” Snow muttered out as she slowly bent forward to cup her daughter’s cheeks in her hands.

 

“M-mom?”

 

“It will be okay sweetheart, you worried us a lot tonight though. The way you hung up on us...please promise me you will never do that again okay?”

 

“I..” Regina cursed the way her voice failed her for a moment and scraped her throat. “I assume you can take it from here then?”

 

“We can,” Charming spoke up from somewhere behind her.

 

She nodded and watched for a moment longer as he gathered Emma into his arms and carried her to the pick-up truck parked on the curb.

 

“Thank you,” Snow said for the second time that evening. And much like the first, Regina was left utterly confused as to what she was being thanked for.

 

She didn’t ask either, but shivered and watched as they slowly placed Emma in the passenger seat of the pick-up. Something about Emma’s words kept bothering her, kept haunting her thoughts. The way Emma had looked at her, she wasn’t able to shake it no matter how she tried. She thought about the untouched glass of wine in her study and turned around to make her way back inside. She thought that perhaps Emma Swan had the right idea when she had indulged herself. A few glasses of wine certainly didn’t seem like such a bad idea anymore, not if she wanted to get any rest for what few hours remained of the night.

 

She had barely closed the door behind her when a sudden knock made her stop and Regina balled her hands to fists for a moment before she yanked it open once more.

 

“This better be really go..”

 

“I uhm..I just figured you might want this back?” Snow stammered as she held out the plaid Regina had wrapped around Emma.

 

“I see..” She hesitated for only a second before snatching the fabric out of Snow’s hands. “Will that be all?”

“Did she..say anything? I couldn’t make out much because she seemed too upset, and there’s the fact she’s a little drunk but..”

 

The hand around the door-knob clamped down on it a little tighter on its own accord and Regina felt something shift inside of her at the words. “I’m not sure what you are..”

 

“Regina,” Snow said, her voice gentle in a way which Regina couldn’t recall hearing before. “She finally told you..didn’t she?”

 

Instead of answering, Regina closed the door with a hard push. She clutched the plaid in her hands and took measured steps through the foyer and deeper into the mansion, before placing the blanket down over her reading chair and sitting down.

 

She reached for her wine glass, foot of it tinkling against the table a few times as she lifted it to her lips. Anger welled up inside of her as she raised the other hand to her temple and wondered how much of what she remembered was real.

  
  


* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Act I. TBC.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Act II

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Regina..I realize we owe you some explanations, but you don’t understand how difficult …”

 

“Oh,” Regina mockingly interrupted Snow, “ _I_ do not understand how difficult it was for _you?_ Is that what you were going to say, Snow, dear? Because as far as I can see you were all too willing to perpetuate this lie had it not been for your inebriated daughter spilling the secret last night. Am I wrong?”

 

She looked on unimpressed as Snow opened her mouth to say something but promptly closed it again without speaking a single word. With her arms wrapped around herself, Snow glanced once towards the ladder leading to the attic before she walked back to the door and closed it and wordless sat down on one of the chairs at the dining table. Regina kept staring at her, expecting some kind of answer and she felt a new surge of irritation washing over her for apparently getting none.

 

“Judging from that guilt-ridden expression which you aren’t even attempting to hide, I would hazard a guess that I’m completely right. How long did you think you could keep this a secret from me? How long were you going to hide someone having tampered with my memories from me?”

 

More silence.

 

Gnashing her teeth, Regina walked over to the table and slammed her hands down on top of it, palms first.

 

“How long have you known about this?!”

 

“Since we got back,” Snow finally spoke up, with a surprisingly calm tone.

 

Snow looked right at her and Regina couldn’t see any insincerity. But she thought about their encounters after they had gotten back from their homelands and realized she had never really detected anything too suspicious in this woman’s behavior. No more than usual at least. And what little she had noticed, she had chalked it up to Snow wanting to protect Emma’s son from her for some reason. Or the ever-present nervosity whenever they were in close proximity to each other. She wondered now how she could’ve missed all the signs. And she mentally slapped herself for not having pushed for some satisfying answers a lot sooner than today.

 

“When we all appeared back in town and we were trying to piece together what had happened.”

 

She thought about the small gathering they had had near the town-hall when they tried to figure out the specifics of how they had arrived back in Storybrooke. Mainly she thought if there had been something strange about it which should have alerted her about something being wrong.

 

“All I recall is that we deduced that at least 8 or 9 months must have had passed, since you were heavily pregnant and several of the children had grown considerably as well.”

 

She frowned and some of her anger ebbed away as she tried to think of what she had missed. What else had she forgotten about? She thought about Emma’s confession, but quickly shoved it back to where it came from. At least that part had to have been the alcohol talking.

 

The ceiling creaked above her head and Regina’s eyes flicked towards it. She had suspected that Emma might still have been around in her parents apartment. Mainly because she had encountered David briefly at the Sheriff’s office when she had hoped to catch Emma alone. She had completely ignored his pleadings to hear him out and left without saying another word to head to the apartment he shared with Snow instead. If she couldn’t find Emma, then Snow would have to do, had been her reasoning.

 

But apparently Emma had been around all along and Regina threw a swift murderous glance towards Snow before she moved away from the table and walked towards the ladder.

 

“I’m not trying to prevent you from seeing her, if that is what you think.”

 

“Weren’t you now?”

 

Snow sighed and one of her hands went to her belly. “I was trying to give her some time and space. Emma’s..” Snow swallowed and when she looked back at Regina again, her eyes were glassy. “It took a long time for her to fall asleep.”

 

“If you expect me to care about that then you are..”

 

“That is actually what tipped David and me off about something being terribly wrong with you.”

 

Regina stared at her in confusion. “Perhaps you should actually try and explain what it is that you are implying instead of talking in riddles, dear.”

 

Smiling sadly, Snow stood up from the chair and made her way to the kitchen-area. Regina followed her every movement from the corner of her eyes, but all the while she was itching to call out Emma’s name and demand for her to get downstairs. She had a lot of pent-up anger and frustration she was dying to get rid of, and that insipid woman seemed to be at the center of everything that had happened lately. Not to mention she wanted her suspicions confirmed about just what Emma had been up to at the convent the day before.

 

“You remember how we were comparing memories? How we tried to figure out how much time we were missing?”

 

Regina’s brows creased as she glanced at Snow tinkering with the coffee-maker, her back turned towards Regina.

 

“When we brought up Emma, your response was antagonistic and we didn’t really understand why this was. We had no idea why you weren’t inquiring more about her or Henry. And when you did mention Henry, you referred to him as Emma’s son.”

 

“I still fail to see how this is of any relevance to the topic of our conversation.”

 

“Because,” Snow started as she turned around, stirring the spoon in her coffee-mug.

 

“Henry is ours,” Emma finished, before Snow could and Regina’s head whipped around lightning-fast with the woman’s sudden appearance behind her.

 

 _“Ours?_ ” Regina repeated, her lips curling up in an expression equal parts bemusement and disbelief. “Ours, truly? Am I to assume the effects of alcohol on your brain hasn’t quite worn off yet?”

 

It was only then that Emma, still wearing the same, albeit rumpled set of clothes as the day before, turned to face her. She immediately took note of how one of Emma’s hands was holding onto one of the rungs of the wooden ladder seemingly for support as she attempted to find her footing. Bloodshot eyes looked right at her for a moment before they diverted to Snow who was watching them both silently.

 

“She is telling you the truth,” Snow spoke up after the silence lingered on.

 

“You are both insane,” Regina bit out as her face contorted into a mask of barely contained anger. “I do not know what you are trying to achieve by telling even more lies, but you cannot honestly expect me to believe I am sharing a son with you,” Regina finished as she took a step towards Emma and glared furiously at her.

 

“Why would I even lie about that Regina?” Emma asked, sounding infinitely more tired than she looked.

 

“You lied about everything else,” Regina shot back.

 

She balled her hands to fists and walked past Emma, needing to see anything else but that infuriating woman and her mother. For a moment though, barely even being there, a thought had crossed her mind. Idea had bounced around her thoughts as she conjured up the mental image of Henry sitting at the desk in the library. _Ours._ But then all the reasons it couldn’t be true caught up with her and she had dismissed it as more lies spun to keep her from finding out about something else they were hiding from her.

 

“Mary Margaret, can you give Regina and me a little time alone?”

 

“Sweetie...are you sure you don’t want me to stay around? You know I can..”

 

“I would rather she stayed actually,” Regina interjected, “I’m not done talking to either one of you. If you think I will be okay with..”

 

“We’ll be fine, Mary Margaret, thank you,” Emma interrupted her. And it was all Regina could do to not strangle Emma on the spot. “This isn’t about her, Regina,” Emma continued, “this has always been about you and me.”

 

Regina noticed Snow throwing one last questioning look at Emma’s way before she left, albeit with obvious reluctance. It was the click of the door falling into the lock that made something snap in Regina’s head and she took a few long strides towards Emma and practically cornered her against one of the walls.

 

“Enough with the lying,” she hissed as she jammed one of her fists against the wall next to Emma’s head. “I demand to know who tampered with my memories and why!”

 

“I don’t know!” Emma shouted back and Regina was stunned with the way which Emma yanked her hand away and angrily stalked towards the kitchen. “I don’t know what the hell happened back there Regina, because I wasn’t fucking there, okay? Jesus..” Emma muttered.

 

Regina still found herself rooted to the spot, trying to process Emma’s outburst while watching her move about the kitchen. She heard the telltale sounds of the coffee-maker sputtering to brew something and Emma moving around to grab various things from the drawers and cupboards in a clearly agitated manner.

 

“All I know is that you aren’t you,” Emma spoke up, turning around briefly to address Regina before turning away again. “You haven’t been yourself since I first saw you again and I..” There was a hitch in her voice and Emma stopped. Stopped for a long poignant pause before she cleared her throat and continued. “I-I thought. foolishly, after my parents told me that things weren’t the way they had been before the curse, that if you saw me, it would help jog your memories.”

 

Regina chuckled at the notion. “You believe if I saw you it would help me somehow? Are you that really that delusional?”

 

She didn’t miss the way Emma cringed at the words, though she didn’t dwell on the implications behind it.

 

“That is why I didn’t tell you, you know?” Emma said. She turned around and placed the coffee mug on the counter in front of her, bracing herself on it with both of her hands as she looked right into Regina’s eyes. “You wouldn’t have believed me. You certainly don’t believe me now,” she added, on a sad tone.

“So you just hid things from me and believed what...that my memories would return to me eventually?”

 

“Not exactly,” Emma hedged. She took a sip from the coffee and her eyes popped open wide. Emma’s tongue slipped out a second later and she quickly waved her hands around in a futile attempt to cool off the obvious burn. “Guhh..too hot,” she mumbled while making a face.

 

“I was trying to recreate a memory-potion,” Emma admitted after another moment. “And I..”

 

“Failed,” Regina fit in. “I imagine that is what you were doing at the convent yesterday.”

 

“Yes. I failed,” Emma stated bitterly, tears clearly shining in her eyes before she averted them to stare down at the mug in her hands. “Henry, mostly. I didn’t want to attempt to convince you of the truth, of how your memories had been altered and have you interact more with him than necessary, while you didn’t remember. It would have been too cruel for him, especially if the potion turned out to be a dead end.” She shook her head and stared at some fixed point past Regina. “Not that it matters much anymore.”

 

It explained the trashed room in the convent. The alchemy equipment that had been hit by what had looked to be a fireball. The way Emma had dug around in the glass, and for a moment the memory hit her with a searing intensity. Emma’s bloody, mangled hands and the sheer desperation in her eyes before she had ran away.

 

“There are other ways to restore one’s memories.”

 

“You think I didn’t consider them?!” Emma shouted, one hand sliding through her hair in a frustration. “Mary Margaret and David asked the Blue Fairy about that, right away after they realized your memories weren’t the same as before. They wanted your help to get a message out to me, since I was still living oblivious to it all in New York at the time. But Blue said that it was different than simply having a cursed personality, you were still you, only your memories were tampered with.”

 

Regina snorted. “I trust that damned Fairy as far as I can throw her, but I do know she is able to concoct a potion that returns one’s memories. I will pay her a visi..”

 

“Mary Margaret tried. She slipped you a potion when she visited to ask about some forms, not long after you went back to being the Mayor.”

 

“Of course she did.”

 

She had known there had been something strange about Snow’s visit that day.

 

“I really really screwed up so badly, Regina,” Emma said after a moment of silence. “I thought if I could keep it a secret, there would be a better chance of it succeeding. We still didn’t know what was going on, what the Wicked Witch was after and since everyone forgot the last year in The Enchanted Forest, this seemed like the best way to go.” She raised the cup back to her lips and took a careful measured sip of the dark liquid. “I guess they must’ve followed Hook. Or they kept tabs on the fairies, I don’t know. But that was the last of the potion that brought back my own memories, Regina. It was all that remained, and I fucked it up.”

 

“You should’ve told me, I would’ve been able to keep it safe. I could’ve helped.”

 

She felt some of the anger bubbling back to the surface with the thought of Emma squandering the one probable chance of returning her memories back to their former state.

 

“You wouldn’t even look at me in the diner, Regina,” Emma cried out, tears rolling down her cheeks. “So how in the hell was I going to explain anything to you?! There was no proof left anywhere. Nothing tangible remaining of what we were to each other before all this crap happened. All the pictures of us were gone.” Emma wiped away some of the tears and her voice was unsteady when she continued. “Even all the pictures you had of Henry, before we even got together, were gone.”

 

“Your..your visit at my house?” Regina stuttered out as everything Emma was telling raced through her mind.

 

She struggled with the idea that it was really the truth. That she and Emma had really been together. That Henry was her son as well. How could any of it be real when she had no recollection of it ever happening, nor was there any logic to it. There had to be another reasonable explanation for everything that was going on.

 

But then she thought of Emma wandering around her office, looking for things which weren’t there. Asking strange questions. Her odd behavior ever since they had returned from The Enchanted Forest. And the visit to her house. The mental breakdown after she had walked into the living room and…

 

“What were you looking for, in my living room?” She asked because she needed to know for sure. She needed to know...

 

“A picture frame,” Emma said so softly it was almost a whisper. “It was us, and Henry. He..he kept badgering you about taking one of all of us together. Snow took it shortly before the shit hit the fan,which caused us to take a trip to Neverland. I uhm...I wanted to have more of them, of us, as a family, but we never got the chance. And now..”

 

One of Regina’s hands flew to her temple before she was able to stop it. The fingers dug in almost painfully as she desperately tried to recall something. Anything. Her eyes closed as she thought of Neverland and everything preceding it, but it was mostly just a blur. A blur in which she wasn’t able to identify anything.

 

“There is nothing there.” It was startling, the realization that she might forever remain that way. With her memories incomplete. And then the potion which Emma wasted sprung back into her thoughts and her attentioned refocused on the woman pacing around the kitchen.

 

Emma looked at her almost pleadingly as she spoke up, “I know, Regina, look there might still be...”

 

“Chance for me to have my real memories back? The one you wasted by continuously lying to me instead of telling me the truth the moment you realized something was wrong?” All the pent up anger threatened to consume her in that instant, and she actually saw red, before she managed to push some of it away.

 

“I’m sorry for that, okay? I just explained to you why…”

 

“You do realize, a simple apology will not magically fix this, Emma.”

 

Emma stared at her, her eyes flicking around everywhere and there was a helpless expression on her face. “This isn’t you..Regina, you need to remember that.”

 

“Actually, this is me,” she shot back. Straightening herself, she cocked her head and studied Emma for a second. “Whatever else we might have been, I don’t remember that, and apparently because of you, there is a good chance I never will.”

 

“You think I don’t know that?!” Emma yelled. “Why the hell did you think I got myself wasted last night? I fucked up, I know that. And if you..” Emma paused and walked from behind the counter until she was standing directly in front of Regina. “I get that you don’t remember…Us. And I get that things can’t be like the way they were before. So if you..if you don’t want much to do with me for now, I get that, okay? But don’t shut out Henry too.”

 

Emma reached out with one of her hands, but Regina stepped away before it could connect. There was a dejected expression crossing Emma’s face before she dipped her chin and a curtain of blonde hair obscured her features.  “Please,” she mumbled softly, “you’ll always be more of a mother to him than I am, so don’t take the way I screwed up out on him.”

 

“You forget I have no recollections of any of my previous interactions with him either. Nor a reason to treat him differently from any other child. So what is it exactly that you want me to do here Emma? I have more pressing worries than what you think I owe you or your son.”

 

“You raised him for 10 years,” Emma blurted out. “He’s your son too. I gave him up because I was pregnant and in prison, Regina,” Emma said with a choked up voice. “And you raised him for ten years. I thought about him sometimes, but I also knew he was likely better off out there, wherever he was, without me. Until the day he came to find me.”

 

Emma said more, but Regina wasn’t listening. All she could think of was that if what Emma said was true… Ten years. How the hell had she forgotten the son she had raised for ten years? But most of all, why? She just didn’t understand why.

 

“I..need to go,” she muttered out. She knew she sounded troubled, but she was unable to hide how deeply the latest revelation had disturbed her. “I need to do some research to see if there’s any other way to restore my memories,” she clarified after scraping her throat.

 

“Regina, wait…”

 

“There is a Wicked Witch out there who more than likely is connected to everything that has transpired so far. Including being the culprit behind destroying your attempts at creating a potion. Everything leads back to her. I do not have time for anything else until we find out who it is, and what they want.”

 

She neglected to mention the question about why this Witch had chosen to only alter her memories so far back. It made her feel uneasy the longer she thought about it. She wondered if there had been an occasion during her reign as Evil Queen when she had come across the Wicked Witch somehow, without knowing about it. Had she perhaps done something to incur their wrath?

 

“I..” Emma sighed and visibly deflated. “Whatever you want, Regina,” Emma spoke up, her eyes finding Regina’s own with an intensity that startled her, before she flicked them towards the kitchen. “I’ll stay out of your way as much as possible. Just think about my request concerning Henry’s situation, okay?”

 

She thought about saying nothing, or saying she couldn’t promise anything, but there had been something about the way Emma had looked at her. Something that haunted her just a little bit. As if Emma had lost all hope. It reminded her of the woman breaking down on her porch the night before and Regina took a deep steadying breath and looked across her shoulder just as she reached the door.

 

“I will try.”

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


The sound of the knock was way too loud in the otherwise silent house, and it instantly made her sit upright in her chair. Removing the glasses from the bridge of her nose she mumbled some expletives under her breath and entertained the thought of removing all of the doors from her house by magic. She would still be able to get in and it would keep anyone else out. It was the perfect solution really.

 

“Sheriff Swan,” she muttered, as she yanked open the door harshly, “I thought I had made myself explicitly cle…”

 

“Mom?”

  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


She was stunned speechless, not by the way she had been addressed, but more by the way he looked up at her. All childlike hope and expectation and something twisted inside of her for a tense moment as she tightened her grip on the doorknob in her hand.

 

Then the corners of his mouth drooped downwards and he just looked forlorn. Forlorn and out of place, his fingers tugging at the straps of his backpack in apparent nervosity.

 

“Ma told me you still don’t...but..I thought that...I was hoping if you saw me...” he stammered and her irritation grew the longer he continued.

 

She tried to figure out what the purpose behind his sudden appearance on her doorstep could have been, as her eyes scanned the street behind him. There was no yellow bug or patrol-car but still she remained suspicious. Had Emma sent him here on purpose? And if she hadn’t, how the hell had she not noticed her son wandering off all by himself?

 

“You shouldn’t be here,” Regina said while crossing her arms and giving him a stern look, “I also do not have time for this right now. Go back to your mother.”

 

_“You_ are my mother too, even if you don’t remember right now,” he answered and she lifted her eyebrows at the stubborn expression on his face. 

 

“I might not re…” she halted mid-sentence when he suddenly pushed past her into the house wordlessly, completely taking her by surprise. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” She turned to find him standing in the middle of the foyer, a big smile plastered on his face, seemingly oblivious to how close she was to banishing him from her house by magical means.

 

“I know a way to get your memories back,” he exclaimed in an excited manner.

 

She moved a hand to her forehead and rubbed at her temple wearily. “Henry,” she started. Because it wasn’t as if she hadn’t thought about everything Emma had told her over the past few days. The implications of it had slowly started to seep into her thoughts and she hadn’t been able to ignore it, no matter how she had tried. Everything just seemed to confirm that she really had raised this boy since he had been but a baby. But while the signs were there and while she had slowly started to accept what people had been telling her, the actual connection was missing.

 

Even now, when she looked at him she saw just another boy. She felt no motherly feelings and the longer he stayed in her house, the more that thought was bothering her. Eventually she would be too tempted by the idea of finding out about what had been before, of the pieces of her life that were lost to her. Eventually she’d ask questions. And she knew she would get all the answers, but she wouldn’t have any memories or feelings to accompany those answers.

 

“I have no idea what your mother told you but you need to..”

 

“I know about the potion,” he interrupted her, his eyes bright and filled with hope.

 

She wondered if it was the way he looked at her, that made her swallow the words with which she had wanted to evict him from her house. As if he knew her. Saw things in her that she had no idea of how to find in herself. He looked at her in a way that she couldn’t understand. It made her wonder, for just a short moment, if there had been a time in the past where she would’ve understood.

 

“I know it didn’t work,” he continued, though his eyes lost focus and she followed his gaze to where it was fixed on one of the paintings in the foyer.

 

She was too distracted trying to determine what had caught his attention that she didn’t notice the movement in her periphery. Not until she actually heard the heavy sound of boots running up the stairs at lightning-speed.

 

“Henry,” she called out with aggravation. Her patience with his antics having finally ran out.

 

She was going to call up Emma the moment she found him and demand for her to come and get the boy. He was a distraction, one that unnerved her with his mere presence and it was troubling enough that she had hundreds of questions about her history with him. At least when he wasn’t here, when he was out of her sight, she wouldn’t be so tempted to actually ask them.

 

Her eyes settled on the painting Henry had been staring at, as she kept wondering what had been so interesting about it. It wasn’t until she replayed the conversation she had had with Emma a few hours prior that it finally clicked. Emma had looked at that very same painting before she had ran into Regina’s living room.

 

It was a beautiful landscape. A clear blue sky overhead and a few birds perched in trees. There was a small house in the distance which she didn’t recognize and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn’t actually recognize the painting in general. It was just there. It had been there for as long as she could remember. There was nothing special about it. Though as she walked up the stairs in search of one missing boy, she dwelled on the notion that maybe it wasn’t about the painting itself somehow. Emma’s vague explanations about things made her think that perhaps there was another reason entirely why both her and Henry had acted the way they had upon seeing it.

 

“Henry,” she called out again. She wasn’t surprised about receiving no answer in return. There were some noises coming from one of the rooms she was using for storage however and as she got closer she saw the door of that particular room having been left wide open; confirming her suspicions of his whereabouts.

 

“Stop that! Has your mother taught you no manners at all?!” she questioned, utterly vexed by finding him rooting through her belongings.

 

He didn’t stop at first. Not until she raised her voice. He turned towards her then and the abrupt motion made the strap that had been hanging precariously off of one of his shoulders finally slide off. The backpack he had been carrying with him landed on the ground with a soft dull sound, though he seemed to pay it no mind as he walked unsteadily towards her.

 

“What did you do?”

 

There was a definite hitch in his voice as he asked the question. He stood in front of her, his hands trembling and moist eyes staring up at her in grief. “Where did everything go?”

 

“I have no idea what you are talking about dear and these things aren’t yours. I will call your mother to get you, because I need to..”

 

She blamed it on being confused by his behaviour, the way he managed to move forward before it even registered with her. His arms stretched out and settled around her lower back in some kind of hug which made her feel awkward and at a loss of what to do. Somehow her own arms found themselves around his form and though it wasn’t quite a hug and though she didn’t remember ever hugging a person this way, besides for Kathryn when she had still been cursed, Regina still stayed that way for a few seconds as she tried to center herself.

 

“Mom?” he questioned a short while later as she finally extracted herself.

 

Because she couldn’t do this. Couldn’t give him hope with something she didn’t feel, something she didn’t remember. The comfort he just sought and the way she had almost automatically returned his hug, had been more about motherly instinct than anything else. But he was Emma’s son, and she couldn’t think of him being hers as well.

 

“I am not your mother Henry,” she spoke up as she side-stepped away from him, preparing to clean up the mess he had made. “I know what Emma has said, I know I might have been in the past. But I might also never remember that, and right now, I don’t know you.”

  
“But you do,” he protested. It sounded so very desperate that it still made a lump settle in her throat. He was just a child after all. A few tears made their way down his cheeks as he looked around the room again, before his eyes settled back on her. “This was my room,” he said, sniffling and wiping his face with the sleeve of his jacket. “You don’t remember that either, do you?”

 

“This is just a storage room. It’s been that way forever.” Though even she had to admit that there weren’t many things stored here. A few boxes with paperwork that she meant to sort before placing it back in the file cabinets at the town-hall and there was a closet with extra sheets and pillowcases.

 

“You need to go back home.” She bent down to retrieve the stack of papers and various other things that had fallen out of his backpack. “I have important things to worry about Henry, I cannot have you stopping by unannounced every time you think you have found some way to restore my memories. This isn’t a problem that a child should concern themselves with, are we clear?”

 

He grabbed one of the papers away before she was able to stop him. “I lost the book,” he spoke up and she wondered if the confusion she felt with his odd statement was readable on her face, when he swiped away the entire stack of papers next and clutched them to his chest. “There was a book, it had all of the stories from people from over there in it. How Snow White met Prince Charming, the story about Cinderella. Ma said when she believed in them and she touched the book, it made her see them. I thought that..if I had it, I could make you remember things. Remember me.”

 

“A simple book won’t restore memories,” she remarked more snidely than she had intended. She just didn’t have the time nor the patience for some childish beliefs.

 

“It wasn’t a simple book. It was magical,” he insisted and the way his mouth was set reminded her a little of her arguments with Emma in the past. “But I lost it. I used to have it here, in my room. I made some notes of it, but now it’s all gone.”

 

“I would’ve remembered seeing a book like that.” But then it hit her a second later, that might exactly be the reason she didn’t remember it. It made her close her eyes and take a deep breath. Him being here complicated matters, made her think of things she couldn’t afford to think about right now. She needed him gone.

 

“I think I can remake it,” he continued, though she mostly ignored him while she stood back up and fished out her mobile from one of her pockets. “I did some research, mom, I think if you helped with magic, we can remake the book.”

 

The mere notion of touching, or holding some kind of book and having her memories restored as a result seemed completely absurd to her. But when she looked at him, she was unable to ignore the excited way with which he was presenting all the drawings and notes he had made and neither could she find the heart to tell him there was no chance for the plan he had of succeeding.

 

Instead, she hastily told him to go downstairs, explaining she would listen to his ideas while making some coffee for herself. She almost felt sorry for deceiving him like that, the way his entire face lit up like a christmas tree when he thought she was taking his book-idea seriously. Because the moment he ran back down the stairs to spread out his papers on the kitchen table, she called up Emma.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Go sit in the car, kid, we’ll have a little talk later about going somewhere without a permission.”

 

If possible, Emma looked even more tired than she had earlier on the day. There were dark bags beneath her eyes and her entire posture was one of utter exhaustion. Regina was reminded of Snow’s words, about how it had taken a long time for Emma to fall asleep and the thought came to her that this wasn’t the result of just one day of bad sleep.

 

“But..”

 

“Now, Henry.”

 

His eyes flickered to her and Emma in turn and Regina thought that for a moment he was going to say something to protest. But then his lips clamped shut and he dragged his feet towards the yellow bug parked on the curb.

 

“Look, before you’re going to continue with that tirade you started on while we were on the phone, I’m sorry, okay?” Emma muttered as she leaned against the doorframe and rubbed at her face. “I had no idea he had some kind of plan to go to your house the first opportunity he could. He just had it in his head that the book could help restore your memories, even though I explained to him it was more complicated than that.”

 

“I will not even bother listing off all the reasons he shouldn’t be walking around alone until we’ve ascertained what we are dealing with. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again, Sheriff Swan, I have more important things to do than babysit your child every time he runs away,” she stated coolly, while staring at the car in the distance.

 

“Yeah actually, about that,” Emma said, while looking at Regina, an sheepish expression on her face as she scratched her head. “I was visiting the hospital earlier.”

 

“I do not see what that has to do with..” But then she halted mid-sentence and her previous irritation dissipated with the possibility of Emma having found some kind of lead. “You found a clue pertaining to what happened to the dwarf?”

“No, not the dwarf. It was about you actually.”

 

“Oh was it now?”

 

She cocked her head at Emma, her interest piqued despite wanting to have nothing to do with this woman. It did make her wonder though. How they ever could’ve worked. All she was able to recall was their fights; their never-ending arguments dripping with loathing and bitterness. She actually couldn’t remember Emma being the way she was right now. Shuffling her feet, licking her lips in a nervous manner.

 

“I uhm..I talked to Whale about what happened with your memories.”

 

“Why on earth would you talk to that despicable man?!” she fulminated, her eyes narrowing in anger. “I would strongly advise you to not do so again. You have absolutely no right to violate my privacy.” She thought of all the damage that pathetic excuse for a doctor had done in the past, and she gnashed her teeth.

 

“I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t so desperate, Regina.”

 

“So you make decisions for me. Decide that it would be better for me if I had my memories back? Have you ever considered the possibility that I do not want them back?” She asked, as she took a step forward into Emma’s personal space, backing her into the door-frame. It was a lie of course, despite everything, the thought of never being completely herself again was bothering her greatly. But she was bothered more by Emma going behind her back. Again.

 

“I don’t know if this fake set of memories you have include the knowledge of how my superpower is knowing when people lie. But I can tell you that you are lying to me right now. I know you Regina. Even this you. Sometimes, when you aren’t aware of my presence and you are focused on something with all of your attention, I can see a little bit of the person I fell in love with. I believe you are still her, underneath it all. And you were happy...with me, with Henry. Everything I’ve been doing, everything I still do, is to have that life back.”

 

“You would restore my memories, even if I didn’t consent to it?”

 

“I..” Emma’s entire face fell with that question and though it took a moment, when she eventually looked back up again, it was with eyes filled with sorrow. “I wouldn’t. If I find a way to restore your memories it would be your choice.” She swallowed and looked at the car. “I know there’s no way to convince you, no evidence of any kind that I can find, but I hope you believe me when I say that you really were happy. You were smiling all the time and you had this...this special way you looked at Henry. I can’t describe it, I think it was some kind of mixture of being proud of him, and motherly love.”

 

Placing her hands in the pockets of her jeans, Emma moved away from the doorframe and past Regina. “I didn’t realize how much was really wrong until I saw you look at him from across the street, shortly after we got back. You looked at him as if he wasn’t even there. As if he wasn’t worth more than a passing glance and you have no idea how much it hurt me to see that Regina. How much it still hurts me right now to see you look at me with eyes devoid of the love they once held for me. I miss that, I miss you. It’s why I went to see Whale, because I just needed to explore every option when it comes to restoring your memories.”

 

“I see.” was what she said, though it wasn’t what she was thinking. Her mind couldn’t quite wrap around everything Emma was telling her. She suspected with everything that had been going on during the day, she would be lying awake most of the night, trying to process things. Trying to process how much of her memories were a lie, implanted for a reason she had yet to figure out.

 

“And what was it he said?”

 

“He thought that if you spend some more time with Henry it could help jogging your memories somehow.”

 

“He is aware that I am not an amnesiac, isn’t he?” Regina replied, although it wasn’t meant to sound unkind. She just found it hard to take anything coming out of the mouth of that deceiving bastard of a Victor Whale seriously, in any form or way. “I did not lose my memories, they were merely tampered with.”

“I know, and I did tell him that. Whale said it’s actually entirely possible the original memories are still there, but they are just suppressed by these new ones.”

 

Two sets of memories. It reminded her of the original curse, the one she had cast. Reminded her of all the years she spent living amongst these people, with them being none the wiser of the lives they had once led.

 

“I’m not going to pressurize you into anything, but just think about it okay? You can visit him whenever you want, I can even make myself scarce when you do so, if that helps.”

 

“We will see,” she answered. It was evasive, but then she hadn’t made up her mind yet. The few minutes she had spent with Henry in the kitchen while she had made some coffee for herself and he had explained his plans for that book of his, had been more enjoyable than she would have thought. But then again, even in the Enchanted Forest, she had a fondness for children. Henry it appeared, was no exception to that.

 

“Okay..I guess I’ll make do with that for now,” Emma said, as she took a few steps forward before turning towards Regina once more. Instead of saying anything though, Emma just stared at her for a long time, an unreadable expression on her face. “I really do miss you,” she murmured before walking towards the car.

 

Regina just stared after Emma as she walked away, thinking of how the words felt just as empty to her as they had the first time Emma had spoken them.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


The phone-call didn’t even last a few seconds. No more than a few spoken words, before she pressed disconnect and used magic to teleport herself.

 

She stalked towards the desk with hurried paces, almost trembling with the fury she felt. Ignoring the few scared people running away from her, she moved around the desk and made a quick angry motion with her hand the moment she spotted the librarian. _“You_..you deceived me,” she hissed as she used magic to hoist Belle up against the nearest wall.

  
  
  
  


* * *

 

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My work has been kind of crazy, so this update took a little longer than usual, but I should still be able to update roughly once a week, and since I have the ending worked out in my head, I'll promise I'll get there eventually ;)

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?” Regina stated coldly and walked further into the room.

 

Her lips curled up in a sneer as she watched Belle struggle with the magic that had a hold on her. The woman’s eyes were wide with panic and her hands were clutching her throat as she gasped for air.

 

For a moment Regina felt the rush of power which came from letting her magic have free reign. It whispered things to her. Seductive little things. There was the ever-present darkness within and she could feel it now, how close she was to taking out all of her recent frustrations on the woman in front of her. It would be so easy.

 

It was like a cold shower, the thought of losing everything she had fought so hard for these past few years. She released Belle barely a second later, though the anger still remained.

 

“Was that your grand plan all along? Deceiving me in an attempt to find out what I knew perhaps? I assume you just handed over the books yourself, or pointed out their existence to Rumple, isn’t that so, dear?”

Though it was strange she thought, as she watched Belle cough and clear her throat while maneuvering herself into a sitting position against the wall. Strange how during the few encounters they had had since they returned from their homelands, she hadn’t been able to detect anything duplicitous.

 

Belle’s eyes fixed her with an accusing glare as she rubbed at her throat. “What the hell is your problem, Regina? He is dead.” Her voice hitched and tears shone in her eyes, but Regina wasn’t deterred by them. She had already been deceived by this woman once.

 

“Do you truly expect me to believe you had no knowledge of him being alive?”

 

“Why are you doing this? Are you purposely trying to hurt me? Again?” Belle countered, her voice sounding stronger than before. She rose up and faced Regina, her posture reminding Regina of someone spoiling for a fight. “Haven’t you wrought enough damage already? I don’t want to think of that day, of that moment, it’s enough knowing I’ll never see him again. Can’t you just...leave me alone.”

 

“You..” Regina faltered upon studying Belle more closely. She looked miserable and the way she had her arms wrapped around herself, looking away from Regina, bottom-lip quivering imperceptibly..it made Regina all the more aware that Belle wasn’t capable of faking her reactions like that. “You really do not know do you?”

 

“I don’t..” Belle was cut off by the sound of the library doors crashing open loudly.

 

“Regina, stop!” Emma yelled as she ran through the door, her gun raised half way towards Regina.

 

Giving Emma an unimpressed look, Regina turned to face her. “Stop what?” She questioned, a tinge bemused by Emma’s darting eyes and the way she licked her lips nervously. “And would you please lower the gun before you accidentally shoot off a lamp.”

“Belle..” Emma questioned, while keeping the gun raised and ignoring Regina, “are you alright?”

 

“I..think so, I’m not sure what happened. One moment I’m working on shutting down the library for the day the next Regina is there and choking me while accusing me of things.”

 

“Regina?”

 

“Is this how things were before, Sheriff?” Regina queried, her level of annoyance with the situation mounting with the way Emma continued to threaten her. “Storming into buildings and drawing guns on me?”

 

“That’s not…” Emma protested, but then she lowered the gun finally, sighed and leaned against the wall nearest to her. “I might have known you before, but I’ve come to realize I really don’t know this new you after all. Because right now your behavior is erratic, and I just don’t know what the hell to make of it sometimes, okay? Jesus Christ, Regina, I had 3 different phone-calls from people thinking you were going to murder Belle. What the hell was I even supposed to think? Fuck…” she muttered and suddenly slid down the wall and sprawled into a heap on the floor without a warning.

 

It was all too fast for Regina to react and she was only able to watch helplessly as Emma laid on the floor and groaned. The gun was laying a few paces away from her, having hit the ground and then slid away towards the edge of a small counter.

 

“Emma?” Belle asked, her tone laced with concern as she approached Emma.

 

Regina in turn felt rooted to the spot. Because her mind was still stuck on what Emma had told her and she was avidly trying to understand why the words stung so much. Her annoyance had faded completely, replaced by concern and there were the lingering thoughts about how their interactions might have been, before her memories had been tampered with.

 

“Sorry,” Emma apologized as she propped herself up and rested the back of her head against the wall. “I’m really tired,” she muttered while pressing one of her hands against her forehead, “and I guess the adrenaline rush wore off.”

 

Emma’s eyes were blood-shot, and she did look exhausted. It made Regina wonder when Emma had last had a decent night’s worth of sleep. Or eaten properly for that matter. Emma certainly looked too thin and her face was drained of all color, as if she would faint again the moment she stood up.

 

“You do not exactly look fit for duty, Sheriff. Perhaps take a few days off, before you actually do shoot something or someone the next time you go and tote that gun of yours around?”

Snorting, Emma’s tired eyes found her for a moment as she slowly stood up on wobbly legs. “That’s kind of rich coming from the Mayor of the town who assaults people for no apparent reason now is it? You have a hole in your memories, Regina, I wish you would just ask people what it is that you are missing, before jumping to any conclusions.”

“That’s not what this was about.”

 

“No?” Emma questioned, her face scrunching up in confusion as she fished the gun from the ground and placed it back into the holster hanging on her hip.

 

“No,” Regina echoed, “Tinker Bell called me earlier, the fairies finally woke up from their slumber. A few of them saw who casted the sleeping spells on them, and they all claim it was Rumplestiltskin.”

 

Regina watched as Emma regarded her incredulously. “That’s not possible,” she muttered, “we saw him die.”

 

“Not die; disappear,” Regina corrected, “it was only assumed that he had died. Honestly, it’s not even that surprising, if anyone knows how to cheat death, it’s that smarmy little imp.”

 

Though reason for him being involved in trying to prevent her from regaining her memories eluded her. She was however convinced his sudden resurfacing back into the land of the living couldn’t be a coincidence, all things considered.

 

“He..he r-really is alive?” Belle exclaimed shakily, her eyes wide and filled with unshed tears. And whatever doubt Regina had about Belle’s involvement in a conspiracy against her vanished upon seeing the woman walk towards the chair behind her desk and collapsing onto it. Belle was trembling all over and crying and the only word she finally managed to utter after a few seconds was a quiet, “how?”

 

“I..” Regina faltered now that she no longer had her anger to fuel her actions and sharpen her focus. Rumple being alive threw her for a loop. “I really don’t know actually. I can only assume it might have something to do with the year we spend in The Enchanted Forest.”

 

“So it was him that destroyed the potion and the lab’s equipment?” Emma questioned. Regina noticed how her fingers were splayed across her temples and every now and then she was rubbing them as if plagued by a splitting headache. “I know he has pulled some crap in the past, but this just doesn’t seem like something he would do.”

 

“It is not,” Belle said, while wiping away some of the remaining tears from her cheeks. “I feel like something is wrong about all this. He wouldn’t have let me keep on believing he was dead.”

 

The memory of him dying was one that felt unclear to Regina. As if she was traversing through a thick fog that obscured her vision completely. But she did recall the moment, she recalled him disappearing, as well as the dagger he had stabbed both his father and himself with.

 

“I don’t know the specifics, but I have this suspicion the Wicked Witch might be in the middle of this mystery too. Whomever brought him back likely acquired his dagger in the process and all signs so far do point towards the witch. Using Rumple to do her dirty work keeps her identify a mystery. It also makes her a lot more powerful and dangerous,” Regina added as she paced around while trying to make sense of things.

 

If it was true that Rumple’s dagger was in the hands of the Witch, then she needed some time and space to think of a plan to wrest control of it from her. She also knew that she might need Belle’s help yet again, because if anyone knew about a possible failsafe that Rumple might have should the dagger fall into the wrong hands, it would be her.

 

“Clear something up for me,” Emma spoke up after a moment. “If she has been controlling Gold since all of you came back, why didn’t she use him to make a move before? What’s her grand plan Regina? What is she after?”

 

“Is this your way of accusing me about having incurred that Witch’s wrath somehow?” Regina queried, eyes narrowing to slits as she put her hands into her sides.

“I’m not..” Emma shook her head and pursed her lips into a thin line while pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m too tired to argue about this. I’m on your side Regina, memory gaps or not, I’ll always be on your side. But I just can’t deal with the way you keep assuming the worst of me. I know this whole Rumplestiltskin situation is urgent, but I’m dead on my feet and all I want right now is to go home and try and get a few hours of shuteye. So if Your Majesty doesn’t mind, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

 

Squaring her jaw, Regina regarded Emma quietly for a while before sighing softly, “fine, I suppose I am feeling relatively exhausted as well. Discussing a plan of approach can wait until tomorrow. I need some time to peruse some of my spellbooks in any case, there might be a way to trace down Rumplestiltskin because of the unique magic he uses.”

 

“Rumple once told me there’s a way to temporarily break the control the dagger has on him. I will need to check his vault again for that,” Belle spoke up.

 

“Well, good, that’s sorted,” Emma remarked cheerily as she rubbed at her face again. “I hear my bed calling. Oh and before I forget, I’m giving you a ride home in the patrol-car, Regina.”

 

“Excuse me?”

“There are likely people out there who have no idea whatsoever of what has transpired in here, I just want to show any curious onlookers that everything was handled. That’s all, okay? If you use magic to vanish again, then we’ll get that whole gossip circuit starting up and seriously, it’s bad enough trying to placate a cranky former queen slash mayor, who has the memory-equivalent of swiss cheese. I draw the line right now at dealing with an angry mob with pitchforks rushing the station or your house while demanding justice, or your head on a silver platter for that matter.”

 

“Cranky, truly?” Regina repeated a tinge annoyed at being described that way. “You can also not be seriously suggesting I should trust you to drive me while you look like you are about to faint again at any moment.”

 

Emma shrugged while stifling a yawn. “Suit yourself. Just don’t expect me to come to your house to disperse whatever crowd might have gathered there, my phone will be off the hook and I’ll put the mobile on silent. Besides, if me driving is really such a unovercomable problem, why don’t you drive?”

 

“The patrol-car?” Regina stated incredulously, “you must have hit your head when you fell down before, if you think I will drive in that car.”

 

“You did before you know? Granted, I was drunk and you didn’t want me to puke all over the interior of your fancy Benz…”

 

“You weren’t drunk,” Belle chimed in, “you were completely hammered.”

 

“Fine, you can drive,” Regina gave in. Partially because the whole conversation about events that she couldn’t recall was unnerving her and partially because she really wasn’t looking forward to having people thinking the worst of her again. She needed their cooperation while performing her duties as a Mayor after all. And Emma was right about the gossip circuit, all it would take was a certain dwarf catching wind of it, before the whole town would know.

 

Nodding wordlessly, Emma walked towards the door. She glanced backwards when she noticed Regina hadn’t made a move to follow after her.

 

“I..have something I need to do,” Regina said, while evading Emma’s questioning look. “You can go on ahead, I’ll be outside in a moment.”

 

“‘Kay.”

Regina waited until she heard the sound of the door closing again before turning towards a waiting Belle.

 

“I know what you are going to say, you know?” Belle spoke up before Regina could even open her mouth to utter a single syllable. “I’m pretty sure that you want to apologize for what happened before and perhaps you should but..” Belle trailed off while looking down at one of her hands tracing the hardcover of a book lying on the desk. “I would rather have your help in finding Rumple and figuring out if he is really being controlled. I would appreciate it if you could help with finding a way to bring him back to me. That’s all I really want right now Regina, to just have him back with me.”

“I understand,” was all that Regina said after a seconds of silence. Because regardless of the complicated nature of her relationship with Rumplestiltskin, the idea of someone having control over his every move put her ill at ease. She didn’t like him, sometimes hate was a better way to describe it when it came to him, but she also didn’t like the idea of the Witch having yet another one-up on them because she had the dagger. “I am still apologizing for my actions however, in addition to providing what help I can with finding out about Rumple’s whereabouts.”

Belle smiled at her, though Regina recognized the sadness in the gesture. “Thank you,” she said. Then, after studying Regina for a moment which went on far too long and unsettled her far too much for her liking, she spoke up again, “Emma is right you know? You should talk to people and find out what you are missing. You should talk to her. She’s..not been herself for a while now, and neither has Henry.”

 

“I might,” Regina said, as she turned towards the direction of the door. But not right now, she added mentally.

 

“Hey,” Emma greeted her as she stepped outside the library. She was slumped against the door of the drivers side of the patrol-car and to Regina’s great annoyance, following her every move with her eyes. “Ready to go?”

“Yes.” Her answer was clipped and meant to shut off any possible avenues of conversation Emma might pursue.

 

“I uhm..” Emma said as she opened the door of the car, and leaned on it slightly awkwardly. “I think it’s a good thing you did in there.”

“Were you listening in on the conversation somehow?”

 

“No..I didn’t need to,” Emma said, and the smile she gave Regina was knowing and blinding in it’s intensity. It also made her feel thoroughly uncomfortable.

 

“Just drive, dear,” Regina snapped as she opened the door of the passenger side. The smile faded again as fast as it had appeared and Emma didn’t speak another word to her during the drive to her house.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


She didn’t see Emma again for a few days, not until she stopped near the grocery store on main street and spied her exiting one of the other stores with Henry in tow.

 

It made her retract her hand from the handle of the door of her car. Made her stop rummaging around in her handbag for her wallet and watch as they walked along the curb.

 

Emma was smiling and Henry was poking her side a few times and saying something, which made Emma burst out laughing. It was the most carefree Regina had ever seen Emma, the most carefree that she could remember. There was no mask, no holding back of any kind and Regina wondered if this was the way Emma Swan had been before.

 

Before.

 

Then Emma noticed her sitting in the car and the mask was back instantly. She looked at Regina’s direction for a brief moment, before averting her eyes and walking towards the general direction of Granny’s. But not before Regina had seen the emotions residing in Emma’s eyes. The hurt and sadness that no mask was able to hide.

 

And Regina wondered as she watched them walk away.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Any updates?”

 

“Still haven’t learned how to knock I see?” Regina replied without looking up from the paperwork she was signing.

 

“Sorry, habit.”

“I see.”

 

“Look,” Emma started as she finally walked to the front of the desk, her presence throwing a shadow across the surface of it and making Regina glance upwards. “Is there some particular reason you are freezing me out? Because I know you talked to Belle a few times.”

 

“I have,” Regina answered noncommittally. “There isn’t any real progress to report, besides what Belle likely has told you already. That isn’t the real reason why you are here though, am I wrong?”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Emma said in a defensive tone. Her eyes were following Regina with hawk like precision, as if she was weary about something.

 

“It means that I find your presence here interesting. You hide a lot of yourself whenever you are near me, but yet you keep searching me out.”

 

Sighing, Emma turned away from the desk and walked towards the window. “It’s because I still care about you Regina. And as I said before, I do miss you. There isn’t some kind of switch I can flip to suddenly forget everything you mean to me.”

Standing up, Regina walked up to Emma and glared at her, irritated by the way she was actively avoiding Regina’s eyes.

 

“Every time you look at me, it’s like you are subconsciously bracing yourself for something. You claim I shouldn’t expect the worst of you, but yet you aren’t being truthful either. Tell me Emma, is it just my lack of memories, or have things always been this way? Have you always been hiding things from me?”

 

“Seriously?!” Emma questioned in a pissed off tone. She turned to face Regina, eyes shooting fire and her face contorted in rage.

 

“You don’t have a fucking clue about any of this Regina. You don’t know. Yes I’m bracing myself every single time, because I don’t know what to expect of you. One moment I think I’m actually getting somewhere with you, and the next you turn completely cold or insult me. I don’t hide things, I hide myself Regina. I hide ME, from you. Because every time you say or do something to hurt me, it cuts me like a knife. It cuts me so deeply that it physically hurts me and I try so damned hard all the time to just swallow it all back down. To just continue for another day.”

 

“Is that supposed to mean some..”

 

Emma grabbing her wrists and pinning her against the wall took her completely by surprise.

 

“You think you can lie about that?” Emma barked out a laugh, though it came out all bitterly. “You want to know how much I am really holding back all the time?” She leaned in until she was scantily a hairsbreadth away and Regina couldn’t help but flick her eyes to Emma’s lips. “I want to touch you every time I see you, I want to be able to kiss you again, so much. Even now. So yes I’m hiding, I’m holding back, because I know that I can’t do any of that,” Emma finished in a whisper like tone.

 

Regina was too stunned to react. Too stunned even to notice her wrists were free again, at least until the tips of Emma’s fingers glided across her cheeks and her hands framed Regina’s face.

 

“Emma…”

 

“You know this would be so much easier for me to deal with if I wasn’t completely head over heels in love with you,” Emma said.

 

There was no mask seen at that moment and Emma just looked at her. Looked right through Regina. Then Emma’s eyes filled with grief, and shaking her head softly, she walked out of the office without another word.

  
  


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	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait. I did write that truth-serum entry for SQ-week and that one got a bit out of hand lengthwise, so you can kinda blame that partially. At least this chapter is also longer than those preceding it, so enjoy ;)

 

 

* * *

 

  
  
  


The silence felt almost disturbing, after the noise of metal and glass crashing onto the linoleum floor.

 

Her hands clenched  and unclenched as she eyed the stack of notes sitting on the dining table. Regina hesitated for only a second, but the frustration and irritation got the better of her in the end, and with an angry motion of her hand she sent the papers flying across the floor as well.

 

Rubbing at her temples, she let out a long breath, hoping it would help center her thoughts somewhat.

 

She hadn’t even made it past the third step on this attempt, before the potion fizzled and she became aware of the fact that she had added the wrong ingredient. Again. Not that any of it would matter much anymore now, she mused bitterly. The alembic was broken beyond repair, and the various bottles with which she had attempted to recreate a memory restoration potion, were lying in pieces at her feet.

 

Her thoughts kept wandering. Her mind kept replaying the events of the previous day, as if it was a slideshow to which she hadn’t been able to find the off button for. It was Emma’s words, mostly. And the way she had looked at Regina before she left. There was too much time for her to dwell on it. Too much time where all she was able to think about is what it might’ve been like before the memories were taken away. Emma kept claiming she had been happy and she couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t stop wondering.

 

Trying to make the potion was a failed endeavor from the start, but she needed the distraction. The cause for her frustration wasn’t just having failed repeatedly, it was all about why she had failed. It was the fact she made amateur mistakes. It was the fact that she hadn’t even made a little progress, nor had she been able to distract herself from the issues which really troubled her.

 

If anything, the urge to seek out Emma and confront her over what had transpired was even stronger now than before.

 

Her eyes flicked over the mess on the floor and she closed them with a sigh. Flicking her wrist, most of the shattered glass, as well as the mangled remains of the alembic, ended up in a pile against the wall. There really wasn’t any point to continue with this avenue of attempting to get her memories back. Because she had come to the realization that after every decent attempt that she had made, there was always something missing. A few ingredients that she couldn’t figure out and it made her wonder if they even were present in this world.

 

And the only sample of a potion that had worked for this was now lost to her, and her mind briefly flashed back to that fateful evening when a drunk and miserable Emma Swan came over to her house. There had only been one potion, contents of which were enough to bring back both Emma’s and Henry’s memories apparently. One potion, and of course, Hook being his usual useless self hadn’t been any help in providing any leads to its origin either.

 

Bending down, she gathered the scattered notes one by one and piled them on top of each other. She didn’t bother sorting them, and when she came across the last one of them she had been working on; containing only two entries, her earlier frustration over being distracted enough to fail at brewing even a simple potion returned tenfold. Hissing in irritation, she threw the small stack of notes away again and marched out of the room.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


The biting wind blew right through the many layers of clothing she was wearing and Regina tugged at the shawl around her neck, pulling it upwards until it was properly protecting her reddened ears and cheeks.

 

It was too cold, and she dug her gloved hands further into the pockets of her coat as she shivered slightly. Ducking her head, she trudged across the hard packed earth forming a narrow winding path towards the outlying farms. The dwarf had been found a little ways back, and she recalled Emma detailing where Ruby had lost the trail.

 

A small ramshackled shed stood to the right of her and there was a clump of trees behind some wooden fences, the leaf-filled branches sweeping heavily in the wind to her left. Extending her hands, she had to lower her gaze to the ground when the harsh winds brought tears to her eyes. She wasn’t  able to see much, but she could sense the residue of a large amount of magic having been used in the area not too long ago.

 

Concentrating, she followed one of the threads of magic, seeking to find the way back to its source. But instead of finding it, she found a dead-end, as if the thread had been cut off abruptly. Regina recognised the nature of the spell though, something used to hide an object, or a person. A cloaking spell, or something to mask one’s presence. There was more magic, more threads, but she was under no illusion that those would extend much further than the first one had. Someone had been hiding here, under the cover of magic, but that someone was also long gone now. And what was more worrying to her, was the fact they have been extremely careful with what magic they had used.

 

Regina pursed her lips when she realised that she was no closer to uncovering the identity of the Wicked Witch than she had been before she arrived here.

 

Turning around, she contemplated on walking further in the hopes of stumbling upon the place where the Wicked Witch had been hiding out at, when a soft crunching sound coming from the vicinity of the shed made her whip her head around.

 

“Freeze!”

 

“Sheriff Swan…” Regina scowled. She crossed her arms and narrowed eyes at the woman pointing a gun at her, for the second time in as many days. “Does this mean your job these days consists out of following and harassing me?”

 

“Goddamn it, Regina,” Emma muttered out in a shaky tone. At the very least, Regina noted, Emma lowered the gun instantly this time. Emma’s other hand rose up to settle across her chest as she drew a few quick breaths. “Seriously, we really have got to stop meeting this way.”

 

Emma holstered the gun and walked up to her. “And you…” she said, while throwing a dirty look at Regina’s way, “you need to start telling me when you plan to go somewhere and scare people shitless. Or wear a bell around your neck. Whatever works for you.”

 

“Truly now? I scare people by walking around somewhere all by myself? Need I remind you that twice now, you drew a gun on an unarmed citizen of this town without having a justifiable cause. A little trigger-happy now are we, dear?”

 

“You do realize that unarmed does not equate unthreatening right? Especially in this town.” Emma shook her head and tugged at the collar of her coat, as if that would help protect against the harsh winds lashing them both. “I got a call about suspicious activity from one of the nearby farmers. And I did specifically instruct them to report anything out of the ordinary to me, since the last time some crap went down here they found a half-dead dwarf lying by the roadside. So you’ll have to excuse me for being a little cautious when it comes to these things okay?”

 

The words did register, but Regina was too busy studying Emma’s odd behavior to process it right away. This whole encounter felt strange to her, and the feeling was magnified tenfold because of the way her mind kept replaying the events of the previous day. Emma being constantly tense and seemingly on edge was piquing her interest however.

 

“And you were going to do..what exactly? Attempt to shoot someone adept at magic, you really take after your father, don’t you, Sheriff?”

 

“I wasn’t going to…” Emma clamped her lips together and looked a little sheepish as she turned to face Regina again. Her cheeks colored a darker shade of red that Regina knew, had nothing to do with the cold.

 

“You didn’t think to use magic instead?” Inwardly, Regina was curious as to why Emma had chosen to come here all by herself, especially if she thought she might run into the Wicked Witch of all people.

 

“Well it’s not as if I have been very comfortable casting spells since I blew the windows out of your house and all,” Emma remarked.

 

“You did what‽”

 

“Right..sorry I keep forgetting,” Emma said while attempting to tuck some of the loose hairs that blew across her face, behind her ears. “You were teaching me, I got distracted, disaster happened. What else is new. Look…” Emma continued once Regina lifted an eyebrow at her.

 

She briefly dwelled on the thought of what else Emma might have destroyed due to her carelessness, but then she refocused her attention on the woman standing in front of her.

 

Emma tugged off the leather glove from her right hand and stretched out her arm in front of her. Barely a second later a small roaring ball of fire appeared in the palm of her hand. She grinned then, looking impressed with herself and Regina couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from forming into a soft smile at Emma’s exuberance.

 

“You did teach me well, you know? I can cast wards, a few healing spells, fireballs, that one spell to quickly douse a fire…” Regina’s eyebrow lifted a little higher at the last thing mentioned. “Before you ask, I kind of set your curtains on fire once. For your information, that happened once, just once, but you seemed to think I was suddenly a liability to the rest of the interior of your house, and taught me that spell next.”

 

“It is a highly useful spell in any case, since fireballs are a preferred weapon of choice for practitioners of magic.”

 

Emma’s entire face lit up suddenly with that and Regina couldn’t understand her reaction. “What?” she questioned.

 

“Nothing..it’s just that you said that the first time too...when I asked you about the details on that spell.”

 

There was something Regina knew she had been meaning to say, but Emma’s explanation made the words die in her throat. She averted her eyes to the ground under the pretense of shielding them against the biting wind with one of her hands. There were the prickling of tears in them once more and she knew that was as good of an excuse as any to end this conversation, before the feeling of discomfort became unbearable.

 

Also shivering slightly and squinting against the wind, Emma slipped her right hand back into the glove and rubbed both hands together in front of her. “I can’t believe you came out here with this kind of weather. But then again knowing you and how determined you can be when you’ve got your mind made up about something, I really don’t know why I’m surprised with this.”

 

Looking up, Regina found Emma staring at her, with an unreadable expression on her face as she rubbed a few tears away from her eyes. “Tell me you found a lead or something at least?”

 

“Nothing which will be of any help, I’m afraid,” Regina answered. She flicked her eyes away again, Emma’s piercing gaze bringing back too many memories of the day before. “I suppose we might have to see about capturing one of those flying monkeys perhaps.”

 

“Right yeah..uhm,” Emma mumbled, seemingly hesitating a moment before she continued, “I’m going to head back to the station. I’m guessing you teleported here, since there were no cars near the road that I could spot, so uh, want a ride back at least?”

 

“I’ll be fine.”

 

“Are you though?”

 

The way Emma formulated the question was enough to make Regina instantly turn her head to look Emma in the eyes. “Are you trying to insinuate something, Sheriff?”

“No, I’m..” Emma sighed, and once more played with the collar of her coat. “Never mind. I’ve just been trying to think of a way to explain my behavior yesterday. I never meant to push you or anything. Hell, I don’t know what I was trying to do. I guess I’ve been frustrated ever since I found out about your lack your memories. I just want that back, you know? I just want to see you look at me again without this doubt and mistrust in your eyes.”

 

“I..” Regina swallowed thickly. A harsh dismissive reply was on the tip of her tongue, though she never uttered it. “I should go,” she muttered instead.

 

But a hand shot out and grasped her arm, stopping her before she was able to teleport away.

 

“Regina, wait,” Emma said, hint of desperation in her voice. “I’m simply sorry about yesterday okay? I shouldn’t have done that, and I..I know I shouldn’t do this either, but...could you tell me sometimes what is going on in that head of yours? Talk to me, share things with me, even if it’s only related to the situation with the Wicked Witch. Just stop shutting me out on everything. Please?”

 

At some point Emma had removed her hand from it’s position on Regina’s arm, since she noticed both hands were now tucked in the pockets of Emma’s coat. Her eyes kept flicking back and forward across Regina’s face as if she was hoping to find something.

 

There was something about this woman standing in front of her, nervously rocking back and forward on the balls of her feet, that she couldn’t quite figure out. Something that kept slipping past all of her defenses and walls. She wondered if this was the way things had been before her memories were altered. But while she remembered loathing Emma Swan, and while she also remembered it had been a mutual thing, why hadn’t she been able to hold on to those memories? Why couldn’t she create the distance she so desired. She wondered if it was due to the fact that this Emma was nothing like the version in her memories. She kept getting closer and closer, and it was thoroughly unnerving Regina.

 

In the distance there was the ominous sound of a thunderclap and Regina’s heart skipped a beat when it pierced the howling winds playing around her head. There was a numbness setting in, which she couldn’t entirely attribute to the biting cold seeping into her limbs.

 

She broke Emma’s gaze, ignoring the sorrow that she caught a glimpse of and teleported back to safe confines of her home.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


Sitting behind the wheel of her parked car, Regina closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten while lamenting her method of transportation to reach Gold’s shop. She knew she should’ve just teleported in, despite there being a reasonable chance of scaring Belle again. But at the very least dealing with a furious Belle would’ve been preferable to almost literally running into the two idiots.

 

“Regina,” Snow spoke up when she walked a little closer the car door, “I was looking for you at your office earlier. Have you talked to Emma?”

 

“I do not see how this concerns you, but for your information it is rather hard to have a conversation while looking into the barrel of a gun.”

 

“Barrel of a…” Snow gaped, and exchanged a worried look with David.

 

“Well, she has been a bit on the edge lately, Mary Margaret.”

 

“If that will be all,” Regina said. She cocked her head and stared both Charmings down in the hopes it would make them disappear again to wherever they had came from.

 

“Can I..” Snow exchanged another look with David, and after a single deep sigh, he walked around Regina’s car, vanishing in one of the stores down the street. “Sorry, I just figured it would be better if we talked about this in private.”

 

“Is that so? Because I do believe there’s nothing to discuss, dear.”

 

She really wished she had just teleported inside. Stealing a quick glance to the shop’s door, her eyes found the sign saying ‘closed’. There was a strange and unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought of how it had been closed since they had all arrived back in town in some mysterious way. She had thought Rumplestiltskin to be dead after all, and the idea that he was somewhere out there, likely being controlled by whomever possessed his dagger, it was unsettling to say the least.

 

“You know, I could leave you alone again if you would just answer the question I asked you,” Snow said, a small smile playing around her lips that seemed much too smug to Regina’s taste.

 

“Or I could teleport you to the roof of the Town Hall.”

 

The smile grew, and Regina narrowed her eyes in response.

 

“You won’t.” Snow’s dipped her head and placed a hand on her protruding belly. “I know you would never risk it.”

 

Snow was of course, much to Regina’s dismay, completely right with her assertion. Almost automatically her eyes found Snow’s pregnant stomach and the thought of whether it would be a boy or a girl trickled through. She snapped her head back up after becoming aware of Snow’s eyes on her.

 

“If you would be so kind to reformulate your question and ask it again, so I can be on my way. I do have more pressing matters to attend to.”

 

Regina didn’t know if it was what she said or something else entirely, but whatever the cause might be, Snow’s smile vanished instantly after she finished speaking. There was something pensive about the way she was looking at Regina, as if she was trying to figure something out.

 

“I assume you did talk to Emma then, judging from what you said earlier. So I assume you argued with her again? Because you need to…”

 

“I need to what?” Regina interrupted her right away. “Because I do believe you are attempting to meddle in affairs that do not concern you.”

 

“My daughter being depressed and emotionally withdrawn to the point where she barely even speaks two words to her parents, does concern me, Regina.” There were harsh lines drawn on Snow’s face, and her chin jutted forward in a challenging way. “You might not remember it, but we were talking before all this happened. We were trying to mend things between us, and we talked. We talked a lot.”

 

“Well, you are right, Snow,” Regina bit out, “I do indeed not remember this, now if you would excuse me…” She started opening the driver’s side door to step outside, but just as fast Snow’s hand pushed the door closed again.

 

“Just..just please try to see things from her perspective, Regina, can you at least try to do that?” Snow’s eyes had softened and both of her hands were now caressing her stomach. “Because I know you lost your memories, but she still has all of them of you.”

 

“I really do not have time for this,” Regina muttered, she opened the door once again and stepped right past Snow while fishing the keychain from her pocket.

 

“Memories or not, if you ever do feel the need to unburden yourself…” Snow stopped then, and Regina wondered for a second if she had left. “If not me, then find someone else, I do know a few things about you Regina, and one of them is when you are troubled by something.”

 

Clamping her lips together in order to not take the bait, she was relieved when she finally found the right key. It was only when she closed the door and locked it behind her again, that she noticed Snow had left. It still made her stand rooted on the spot, the past few minutes replaying in her head.

 

She mused it was the reason she didn’t hear anyone approach her. Not until Belle’s voice broke the silence, making her jump up and almost giving her a heart-attack at the same time.

 

“Sorry,” Belle said, genuinely sounding apologetic. It was only then that Regina noticed Belle holding a candelabra in a way that seemed like she attempting to use it as a weapon. “I didn’t expect you here, I thought someone was trying to break into the shop.”

 

“That vault,” Regina said, nodding her head to the entrance a few steps behind Belle, “holds a variety of weapons, some of which might be able to vaporize a person where they stand, and yet, you choose _that_ to defend yourself?”

 

Belle held up the candelabra and frowned while studying it, almost as if she was trying to discover if there was something special about it. “I really do not know why I did, it seemed logical at the time.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Why are you here though? Did you find something? Did you find Rumple..”

Belle looked at her hopefully, and Regina closed her eyes and walked towards the vault; not wanting to face Belle while they talked. “I didn’t find him no. Nor did I find anything of use in the books I brought with me.” She hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether to be honest or not about the real reason she was here. “I just want to look around the vault once more, there might be something I have overlooked pertaining to the issue with my memories.”

 

“Oh..okay,” Belle said softly. There was disappointment which clearly shone through her words, but she didn’t say anything otherwise as she followed after Regina while walking down the stone steps leading into Rumple’s vault.

 

“I would’ve thought you’d be at the library, however,” she said, when they reached the back wall.

 

It was lined with shelves filled from the ceiling to the floor with a wide assortment of books. Reading through them all would take weeks, if not months, but mostly it was thankfully obvious what they contained. There were a few dozen books that Rumple had written himself, though some of them were written in some kind of code that Regina hadn’t yet figured out how to break.

 

“I actually thought that, since I can’t protect the books in the library and a few of them have gone missing already, they would be much safer in this vault. I figured if the Witch had known about it, she would’ve had the books taken already.”

 

Regina’s eyebrows rose, and she gave Belle a look that showed she was impressed by her thinking.

 

“I was going to show you this later today, after I had finished reading through the chapter, but I figured I might as well you show it to you now,” Belle continued as she reached for the book which was lying on a small wooden desk next to the shelves.

 

“See this,” she said while pointing at a small drawing, “it’s a pendant. Rumple wrote a small bit here about coming across a traveller once, someone from Oz, and they had told him that there were four witches in that land. Witches who wore these pendants and he said that it amplified their powers, making them infinitely more powerful, though without their pendants they would also lose all their magic. The traveller apparently said that the only way to beat the witches was to remove their pendants with white magic. There’s something else here that I can’t read, but I think he was trying to figure out if he could someday cross worlds and go to Oz, and claim one of the pendants for himself.”

 

“Of course he did,” Regina muttered darkly. The little power hungry imp was nothing but predictable after all when it came to these things. “It might be useful at least, though it won’t help in determining where the Wicked Witch is hiding out at, nor does it give us a reason why she is here in Storybrooke. There has to be something she is after.”

 

“You think it has to do with Rumple?”

 

“I don’t know,” Regina answered truthfully. “But it might be that book holds some of the answers to our questions. Do you mind if I take it with me?”

“I don’t. I’m sure you’ll be able to read it faster than I can anyway.”

 

Belle walked out of the vault then and Regina was taken aback by the abrupt way with which she left. She glanced towards the steps leading up for a moment longer, before she refocused her attention on the shelves in front of her. She selected a few of the books having to do with brewing potions and placed them on top of each other on the desk. Scanning the rest of the vault she wondered if Rumple might have had a few of the more unusual ingredients stored away somewhere, when she spied movement from the corners of her eyes.

 

“Before you go, I figured you could take this with you as well,” Belle said as she walked over to Regina. In her hands she was holding a colorfully decorated book, the cover of it engraved with beautifully handdrawn golden letters.

 

“And why should I take that particular book with me?”

“It’s for Henry,” Belle answered softly, a faint smile playing around her lips. “I just thought that…” She stopped them and visible tensed. “Well I know you don’t remember, but he’s been trying to recreate his fairytale book that’s gone missing, and I assumed you were seeing him more often now…”

 

She wanted to say that Belle assumed wrong, but instead she looked at the book dangling from one of Belle’s hands. “I do not,” is all she said, and there was a brief flash of a memory, of seeing him laughing with Emma. “But I suppose I can give it to him, since I believe the information we have about the pendant might be useful to the Sheriff’s department as well.”

 

Belle nodded and bit her lip. There was an air of nervosity surrounding her as she looked up and into Regina’s eyes again. “It’s not the same you know? It’s almost strange when I see them at Granny’s nowadays, and you’re not with them.”

The words rendered her speechless and Regina took the book which was handed to her silently. She went back to perusing Rumple’s book-collection after that, though whatever focus she had found before, was completely gone.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


She didn’t know how she ended up here. Standing in front of the door to Emma’s apartment. It was actually rather late, and though she knew from the lights being on, that Emma was home, it still didn’t put her at ease.

 

Her eyes flicked to the book tucked under her arm and she sighed. Emma’s request earlier during the day had seemed reasonable at least, and this knowledge which she now had about the pendant would be as good as any point to start.

 

Taking a deep breath she lifted a hand up to the door and knocked.

 

It opened barely a few seconds later to reveal a slightly disheveled Emma Swan, wearing a set of blue checkered pajamas and walking around barefeet.

 

“Regina?” She questioned a little surprised, and the smile that had been on her face instantly disappeared and was replaced by wariness.

 

“We need to talk,” Regina said.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  
  
  



	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smaller chapter but I'm busy with a few other things. I'll still promise to update regularly and it will get finished eventually (I'm aiming for around end of August) Also next 2-3 chapters should deliver, since it's nearing the end of Act II.

 

 

* * *

 

  
  


“Talk?” Emma repeated, appearing confused. She seemed poised to say something else but before she could, Regina heard Henry’s voice coming from someone behind her.

 

“Ma? Who’s at the door?”

  
  


“Regina,” Emma answered a tinge distracted, only half turning around to face him.

 

She immediately took note of Emma’s tense posture, the way her eyes kept flicking back and forth as she regarded Regina. Almost as if she was expecting something bad to happen. “If you are too busy…” she said, glancing from Emma to Henry, who was also wearing pajamas and standing behind her, holding an xbox controller in his hands.

 

“No, no..it’s fine,” Emma said hastily, “Henry, why don’t you go play on alone for a bit, I’ll join you again when I’m done talking to Regina, okay?”

 

She caught Henry’s look directed her way without meaning to do so, but then she was also unable to look away. Sometimes, mainly during moments like these when he looked at her in a way she couldn’t quite comprehend, she once again became aware of the fact she had actually raised him. She became aware of the fact that he knew her, had known her for 10 years and she didn’t remember any of it.

 

Swallowing around the sudden lump lodged in her throat, Regina was relieved when Henry shrugged and muttered an unconvincing ‘okay’ as he turned back towards the living room of the apartment. Her eyes briefly found the book still lodged under her arm, and she was reminded of one of her reasons of why she had stopped by. But instead of handing it over to him, like she had been meaning to, she directed her attention back to Emma who was studying her intently.

 

“So uhm..you want to come in?” Emma asked in a careful tone. She stepped away to create some space and though Regina hesitated for a moment, she decided, despite feeling slightly uncomfortable, that the warmth of the apartment was preferable to the stark coldness outside.

 

“You found something useful in that book?” Emma asked after apparently having noticed Regina’s eyes lingering on the book a little longer than she had intended to.

 

“No, not in this one.” She ignored Emma’s questioning glance and placed the book on the small wooden dining table in front of her. From the corner of her eyes she caught a glimpse of Henry moving his body from side to side as he played what she thought to be some kind of racing game. When she turned around, there was a knowing, soft smile curving Emma’s lips upwards as she looked right at Regina.

 

“He wanted to go see you, earlier today,” Emma said almost offhandedly as she turned around and opened the refrigerator door. “I told him it was up to you though. Want something to drink while you’re here?”

 

“I won’t be staying for long.”

 

“So that’s a no then,” Emma stated, sounding somewhat disappointed. She grabbed a bottle of soda and after removing the cap, set it to her mouth.

 

“Belle found a drawing in one of Rumple’s books. It was of a pendant, and it seemed to be worn by the witches who inhabit Oz.”

 

Licking her lips, Emma placed the bottle on the counter and leaned back against it. “Well that narrows it down. I guess all I need to do is screen every single person who lives in this town and check if they happen to be wearing a pendant. Though I imagine this Witch to at least be smart enough to also hide the fact that she is wearing it, somehow.”

 

Removing the folded page from the pocket of her coat, Regina pursed her lips, before walking up to Emma and handing it over to her. “This is what it looks like. According to Rumple’s writings, all of the Witch’s power will be contained in it. It magnifies the strength of their magic, but without it they would also be powerless.”

 

“Right. So, remove or destroy the pendant once we happen to stumble upon the wearer of it flying around the town on their broomstick. Got it.”

 

Ignoring Emma’s sarcastic response completely, Regina rolled her eyes and turned away from Emma. She wanted to explain herself more clearly, but when she looked up again, it was to find Henry staring right at her from the other room. He had twisted his body to look across his shoulders, and it was obvious from the startled expression on his face that he hadn’t counted on being caught listening in on things. Though he recovered far faster than she had expected, and flashing her a toothy grin, he turned back to the tv in front of him; flashing huge red letters that read ‘game over’ across the screen.

 

Breathing out slowly, Regina took a few more steps around the dining table, positioning herself so her back was turned towards the living-rooom. “Well if you cannot even take this matter seriously, I am clearly wasting my time,” she said irritatingly.

 

Throwing her hands up, Emma immediately launched herself away from the counter. “I didn’t mean to..I just..” Shaking her head, Emma’s dipped her chin to her chest. “I’m sorry. You used to enjoy the banter, especially in situations like these, but I keep forgetting… I keep forgetting,” she repeated, almost as if to remind herself and Regina couldn’t identify the emotion shining through in Emma’s voice.

 

“To remove the pendant,” Regina continued, choosing not to dwell on what Emma had said otherwise. “White magic is required.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“So uhm..” Emma continued, immediately having perked up at Regina’s explanation, “how does that work exactly? I can just send a fireball her way and hope it also takes out the pendant or something?”

“I haven’t taught you any other offensive spells?”

 

“Well..sort of?” Emma hedged and scratched a little at her cheek all but ignoring Regina’s inquisitive look.

 

“Sort of?”

 

“I guess just showing you would be better than explaining it, but yes. Besides you were still teaching me, and you taught me mostly basic spells and defensive spells at first.”

 

Without saying anything else, Emma flicked her wrist at the bottle of the soda which was still standing on top of the counter. It vanished instantly and reappeared in mid-air above the stove, before falling down on top of it with a clang.

 

“See, I keep trying to make it appear in my hand, but it just won’t work, and I haven’t been able to figure out why.”

 

“It might be enough to teleport the pendant away.”

 

“Yeah, I guess it might.” Emma said in a disappointed tone, as she grabbed a hold of the bottle once more. “You haven’t explained what the book is for though.”

 

“It is for Henry. Belle said it was something he had been searching for.”

 

She couldn’t help having a quick glance sideways, towards where Henry was sitting. There was something there that she didn’t quite understand, a connection that shouldn’t even be there, all things considered. Though it did make her wonder if it was possible to have this connection without being able to remember why.

 

“You should…” Emma stopped mid-sentence and sighed softly. “I was going to say that it should be you who gives him the book. Especially because he’s been nagging a lot lately about trying to recreate the fairytale-book, but… Well, I did promise not to push you and all.” She cracked a soft smile then, though Regina did recognize it for the forced gesture it was. “I do want you to remember the offer still stands though. You can always talk to him or me, or stop by here for that matter. Whenever you want really. Okay?”

“You’re not staying?”

 

She hadn’t even noticed him standing up from the couch, nor the fact he had snuck up on them, but from the expression on Henry’s face it was obvious he had caught some of what had been said at least.

 

“Kid…”

  
  


“I am not, no,” she answered, her voice even as she turned to face him. “I merely stopped by to talk over a few things.” Her eyes found the book then and while she was aware of the fact that she was able to just walk away without ever mentioning it, something about it gave her pause. Making up her mind, Regina retrieved the book from the table and held it out towards Henry. “According to Belle this was something you were looking for, and she asked me to hand it over to you.”

 

His entire face instantly lit up upon seeing the book and he reached for it without hesitation “It’s one of the storybooks,” he muttered as he immediately started to leaf through some of the pages. “Thanks mom.”

 

He closed the book again with a soft thump, smiling beatifically at her. And then he took a step towards her and for a moment, she was reminded of how he had hugged her in what she now knew to be his old room. He had the same look in his eyes, and his posture was very similar as well. But unlike then, he hesitated and stopped a few steps away from her. She took notice of the way he looked past her and she realized he was exchanging a look with Emma, who was still standing behind her.

 

“You can start with that book first thing tomorrow, Henry, but it’s already way past your bed-time.”

 

He seemed poised to argue, but after a moment he let out a quiet little huff, before turning around and walking towards the stairs, with the book tightly clutched underneath one of his arms.

 

“And no reading under the covers!” Emma yelled after him as he disappeared from sight.

 

She shrugged when Regina gave her a pointed look. “It’s something he does a lot apparently, especially with comic-books.” Flipping the scrap of paper around between her fingers Emma flicked her eyes back up. “You want this back by the way?”

 

“No, you can keep it. I am going to work my way through the rest of the book, perhaps there is something else of use that Rumple wrote down.”

 

“Right.” Regina noticed the way Emma visibly swallowed, and avoided her eyes as she spoke up next. “I guess there’s no way I can convince you to stay a little longer?”

“I don’t really see why I should,” Regina answered honestly. The very thought of staying any longer was also unnerving her.

 

“Maybe you will someday.”

 

It was as cryptic of a response as any, and Regina wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. She placed her hands in the pocket of her coat and walked up to the front door. “I will keep you appraised of any developments, however I do expect you to do the same.”

 

“I can do that yeah,” Emma said, seemingly lost in thought for a moment as she followed after Regina. “I also want to thank you for that thing with Henry before, it was a nice touch, giving him that book yourself. And I…” she faltered, then stopped completely. Her face was half-obscured by the shadows as she stood in the door-opening.

 

“Was there something else you were going to say, dear?” Regine remarked coolly while stepping outside.

 

There had been something about the way Emma carried herself after she had asked Regina to stay. Almost as if she was hiding something, and the broken-off sentence just now brought some of the earlier irritation back in full force.

 

“You have no idea,” Emma said, her voice cracking on some of the words. “But everything I want to say seems like too much.” There was a sad smile playing around her lips as she whispered a soft, “good night, Regina.”

 

And the door closed before Regina was able to say anything in return.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  



	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very very sorry this took forever to update. It's not abandoned, obviously, and I hope to wrap up Act 2 within the next 2 chapters after which it'll work towards the ending of the story. Thanks to everyone that might still read this ;)

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


“Something on your mind?”

 

There was a dismissive answer on the tip of her tongue, but Regina sighed instead and followed Belle’s line of sight to her own fingers which were rapping away rhythmically against the table’s surface.

 

“Nothing that would help with unraveling the book’s contents I’m afraid.”

 

Her eyes fell onto the strangely scribbled notes and she sighed deeply. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she snapped the book shut, not bothering to hide her obvious frustration.

 

“I can continue this by myself if you want,” Belle muttered in a subdued tone.

 

Regina immediately noticed how she avoided eye-contact, focusing instead on the steaming mug of coffee cradled in one of her hands. Belle stood up a moment later and retrieved the book, brows creasing as she flipped through the pages. And something about it all gave Regina pause.  Enough of a pause to refrain from telling Belle about the diminutive chances of finding a way to crack Rumple’s code. If he had even been truthful about there being a way to break the dagger’s control over him to begin with. She had known him for far too long to believe a single word that came out of his mouth. But she didn’t have the heart to tell that to Belle now.

 

“Do you mind if I take another look at the storage?”

 

Belle did glance up at her then, a curious expression on her face.

 

“I’m pondering a few things pertaining to the books that were taken,” Regina offered up by ways of explanation.

 

“As far as I can recall most of those books only contained general information about the land of Oz. It did make me wonder why they were stolen at all.”

 

“It could have been merely a precaution on the Wicked Witch’s part,” Regina mused.

 

Some movement near the information desk distracted her for a second, but the person that passed it by merely moved on towards one of the shelves filled with books and started to look through them. It still made her uncomfortable however and she was glad that Belle had chosen the very back of the library to do their research at. It was secluded enough not to be seen or overheard, but they in turn were able to keep a good eye on what went on in the rest of the library. As far as she was concerned a better solution would’ve been to close the library completely, but Belle had been rather adamant about keeping it open for public. Citing that Regina had scared enough customers away the past week, after which Regina had narrowed her eyes, but refrained from commenting otherwise.

 

Belle did have a point after all.

 

When she reached the storage rooms, her mind started to wander again. The encounter with Emma on the previous night occupying most of her thoughts, much to her chagrin. She hadn’t seen Emma since, and while it should’ve made her feel relieved, it only served to increase her frustration over everything that had transpired.

 

Sighing, she flicked her eyes across the empty spaces on the shelves. Everything had been left the way Belle had found it, per Regina’s own instructions. She kneeled down next to one of the gaps on the shelves and inspected it. Magic had to have been used to appear and disappear again from the library while remaining unseen and she wished there had been cameras somewhere. Even a glimpse of their mysterious opponent would’ve been better than the way she was wracking her brains over the significance of a few books.

 

Standing back up, she stared at the other empty spaces and then thought of the books that still remained secure in Rumple’s vault. And as she kept staring, the beginnings of a plan began to form in her mind. Smirking, she tapped against one of the books as she looked around the room. It would suffice for the trap she had in mind, the real issue would be how to present the bait without being too obvious about it.

 

She walked back to the hall and spotted Belle, but before she could say anything, her eyes fell onto a figure sitting by himself at one of the tables instead.

 

“He got here a minute ago, I didn’t know whether to notify you about it or not.”

 

“That’s quite alright,” Regina murmured, soft enough to not be overheard.

 

He was sitting with his back towards them and Regina’s eyes almost automatically drifted towards the doorway. It would be easy enough to leave without him ever knowing she had been here. Easy enough.

 

“You’ve been keeping an eye on him,” she stated, her tone even. She hadn’t quite forgotten about the first time she had seen Henry here. How Belle had attempted to draw her attention away from Emma’s son.

 

“A little. Emma asked me to help him out, she was at a loss of what to do. He’s been pretty insistent on finding a way to recreate his book.”

 

She turned around and traced circles on the cover of a book laying on the information desk as she processed what Belle had been telling her. “He thinks I can help him with that, though I have no recollection of any such book he has been referring to.”

 

“It wasn’t a normal book. Certainly not like any I’ve come across during my travels,” Belle explained. “It told our stories, the lives we lived before you cursed us all here.”

 

“Not all stories,” a voice came from behind them and Regina spun around, a little dismayed upon finding Henry standing there.

 

“You do know that it’s not polite to eavesdrop on a conversation,” Regina attempted to scold him.

 

“It was missing most of your life,” Henry continued completely unfazed. His eyes held a defiant glint reminiscent of his mother. “When I got the book all I saw was who you were,” he mumbled, rolling a pencil between his fingers in apparent nervosity. “Not the way you are now.”

 

The words were enough to render her speechless for a moment. A moment during which she wondered what he was alluding to. Certainly she knew there had to be more to the story. More to the way he kept stealing glances at her as if waiting for some kind of reaction from her.

 

“Who I was?” She repeated, unable to mask the confusion she was feeling over the cryptic way he had addressed her. Her eyes briefly flicked to the side, but Belle had quietly excused herself, leaving her to sort the tense situation out all by herself and she scowled slightly.

 

Instead of answering her question Henry threw a quick look over his shoulder and she followed his line of sight to the book lying open on the table. A chaotic collection of notes and wadded up pieces of paper were strewn all around it. It reminded her of when he had shown up at her house and spilled the contents of his backpack. Reminded her of how he had insisted the book would help with regaining her memories. She didn’t believe it anymore now than she had believed it then but his obsession with recreating it along with Belle’s insistence that it wasn’t an ordinary book was enough to pique her curiosity.

 

“I could show you.”

 

The impish grin on his face made her raise her eyebrows. The sudden display of confidence reminded Regina way too much of his mother for her liking.

 

She hesitated for a moment more before huffing out a soft, “alright, fine. Show me.”

 

Because her curiosity was overriding the little voice in the back of her head that told her to maintain her distance. Though she wasn’t so sure anymore about the reasons to do so. Even though a part of her still struggled with the knowledge that she had raised him for over 10 years.

 

She followed after him quietly, wondering if there could be any truth to what Emma had told her some time ago, how spending time with him could possibly help jog her memories. At least it seemed more plausible than some magical book helping her with that.

 

“I found a few of the basic stories and pictures in other books,” he babbled as they arrived at the table. “I also asked some of the people around town and they helped me complete a few of the stories.”

 

“I see,” she muttered as she squinted her eyes at the scribbled down notes lying next to the blank book. “And you want me to do what exactly?”

 

“Uhm.” He didn’t even look her in the eyes as he hastily collected a few of the drawings and notes and piled them on top of each other. “I thought that..well if I told you the story you could use magic to transfer it to this book.”

 

“Use magic..” she repeated, “and you believe that will make it like the book you lost?”

 

“I..don’t know.” His eyes became unfocused as he looked at her, his fingers tightening around the stack of papers. “Maybe not, but at least it would tell everyone’s stories, not just parts of it.” He hesitated for a second. “And Ma said there was a chance if you helped me, it could help with your memories too.”

 

She sighed at that. “The chance of that happening is very small, Henry.” She vowed to have another talk with Emma about giving the boy unrealistic expectations.

 

“I know.”

 

That was followed by silence and she took the opportunity to glance over the first of the notes. Most of it was written sloppily, but she got the general idea behind it. It wouldn’t take much of her magic to transfer the notes and drawings over to the blank book. Though she added a mental note to work on the pictures a little because while she was sure the boy had a very lively imagination, his drawing-skills left much to be desired. There were stick figures fighting with swords and one of them she assumed was fighting a dragon. Though it looked more like a oversized bat with horns attempting to breathe fire.

 

“You used to hate that book.”

 

She glanced back up and found him looking right at her.

 

“I didn’t really understand why at first.” He dipped his head and she watched as his fingers drew invisible figures on the blank pages of the book. “I just saw you as evil and I thought if I could find my real mom then…”

 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly after a moment of thought. “I don’t know what you’re..”

 

“I know you don’t remember that,” he interrupted her. He looked forlorn, his eyes dull and leaking the sadness he was attempting to mask. His lower lip quivered as he attempted a smile before he turned his head away from her and she was at a loss of words.

 

“I..don’t remember anything about this book at all,” she spoke up after a few seconds had passed. “Was there anything written about Oz in any of the stories?”

 

It would certainly explain it’s disappearance at least.

 

“No.” He frowned as he stared at the pile of notes next to his hands. “Not that I know of.”

 

“I see.” She tried not to show her disappointment at the statement, stumbling upon yet another dead end. There had to be a reason for the disappearance of his book, but she couldn’t quite figure out why yet. Though she was reminded of what he had just told her. How she had hated the book. A connection to the things she no longer remembered.

 

Sighing, she picked up one of the drawings from the table and held it up. “I suppose we could start a little on that book of yours at least.” She had nowhere else to go for the day and perhaps it would help with emptying her mind and coming up with a proper approach on setting up a trap for the Wicked Witch.

 

“Although it would help if I knew what I was looking at.”

 

A badly drawn stick figure with messy dark hair sitting on a throne stared back at her and she prayed to whatever God was out there that she wasn’t looking at a drawing of herself.

 

“Uhm.” He seemed a little sheepish as he took the piece of paper from her hand and looked at it. “Snow White?”

 

She closed her eyes and let out a peal of laughter before she was able to stop herself. Tears shot into her eyes and she put a hand across her mouth to stop the worst of the noise from coming out. But then she glanced at the picture again and the laughter started anew.

 

When she stopped Henry was looking at wide-eyed and with a mortified look on his face. “Please don’t tell grandma,” he muttered, a clear red tinge on his cheeks as he turned the drawing face-down on the table.

 

“As much as I would love to see the look on her face, you have nothing to be worried about there, dear,” she reassured him after she had wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Though it did make her want to browse through the rest of his drawings to see if there were any others that depicted Snow White in this way.

 

“You should talk to her about the book,” Henry said and she shot a questioning look his way in response.

 

“She was the one that gave it to me.”

 

“Oh,” she muttered softly. She wasn’t sure if it would be worth it to pay a visit to Snow White just to get to the bottom of a fairytale book’s origins, but a part of her was still curious. “Perhaps I will.” Then she pointed towards the stack of notes he had piled together, “tell me what you want in the book and I’ll see if I can help with it.”

 

She was relieved when he immediately started to rattle off with a story of Snow White and Prince Charming. It moved the focus back to the task on hand. Though she still found herself stealing glances his way every now and then. And found herself unable to look away from how thoroughly absorbed he seemed to be in the story he was telling. It made her wonder what it had been like, to raise him, watch him grow up for so many years.

 

Swallowing, she looked away again and started transferring the first few sentences to paper.

 

They were near the end of the story, near the point where she cast the curse, when she heard a voice coming from somewhere behind them.

 

“Hey Henry, you want to grab lu..oh.”

 

She turned half in her seat to look at Emma.

 

“I uhm..I didn’t know you guys were busy. I was just going to ask if Henry wanted to have lunch at Granny’s but I can come back later.”

 

“That’s fine dear. We’ve been here for a while and I really do need to get going.”

 

Emma tilted her head to share a look with Henry before she flicked her gaze back up to Regina. “You could join us though, I mean..” She smiled softly and Regina could see the cautious spark of hope that flashed in her eyes.

 

“I really do need to get back to work,” she said hastily and took few steps towards the coat rack. It was a lie of course and all the while she walked towards the exit, she dreaded hearing Emma’s voice behind her. The look she had caught in passing had been one of disbelief.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  


She took a deep breath as she knocked on the door. Though she hadn’t counted on David opening it.

 

“Regina?” He frowned, looked over his shoulder then puffed himself up and folded his arms, effectively blocking the doorway. “Anything I can help you with?”

 

She rolled her eyes at him and his ridiculous overprotectiveness. “I’m just here to talk to Snow, so if you don’t mind..”

 

“It’s alright Charming, I’m not that tired yet.”

 

She took off her gloves and pushed them into one of her pockets while stepping into the apartment. Heavy steps followed after her and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes again. Sometimes she truly wondered what Snow saw in that lumbering oaf. Certainly he was more brawn than brains.

 

“Bad time?” She asked, while completely ignoring David leaning against the wall and scrutinizing her every movement.

 

Snow was sitting on the couch, reclining against some of the pillows, a closed book in her lap. “A little I suppose. I’ve been sleeping a bit more lately, the baby’s been a drain on my energy. But I can easily postpone the nap until later.” Her expression suddenly changed, as if some thought had struck her. “Did something happen? Is that why you’re…”

 

“No, everything remains unchanged.” She clenched her teeth together at the feel of eyes boring into the back of her skull and send a quick vicious glare across her shoulder. “If you do not mind,” she continued, with a sharp raise of her eyebrows, “I would prefer to continue this without an audience.”

 

“Oh..well I think..”

 

She watched the two of them silently communicating for a second.

 

“Are you sure?” His question was meant for Snow, but he was looking at her instead.

  
  


“Truly dear, if I meant any harm to Snow or your unborn child I would’ve made a move by now don’t you think?

 

He kept looking at her for a moment more before he sighed and his entire posture changed instantly as he visibly relaxed. “Sorry,” he muttered as he rolled his shoulders. “But there’s the baby coming and we got this Wicked Witch on the loose, you don’t have your memories and Emma’s..not herself either. It’s just been a crazy few weeks. Things were good between us before all this happened but when we came back it’s like you were a completely different person. So I just..I..”

 

“I understand,” she interrupted his rambling. “I do remember talking with Snow, despite those memories being hazy as well.”

 

“Right...call me if something does come up okay?” He pressed a quick kiss to Snow’s lips which did make her roll her eyes, before leaving the apartment.

 

“I assume there was a particular reason why you came here to talk to me?”

 

“Getting right to the point, aren’t we dear?” She smirked at Snow’s unperturbed shrug.

 

She grabbed one of the chairs from near the table and placed it closer to the couch before sitting down. “I’m here about the book actually,” she said while unbuttoning her coat.

 

“What boo..oh right, you mean the one Henry lost?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Wait, did you find it..”

 

“No actually,” Regina said, holding up a hand to stop Snow before she could continue. “I was actually curious where you found it.”

 

“You mean when I gave it to Henry initially?” When she nodded, Snow looked away for a second, seemingly lost in thought. “We were all still cursed then. I do remember some things from that time but...it’s jumbled, unclear, as if I’m unable to focus on anything. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

 

“I don’t think you need to,” she muttered darkly, abruptly standing up from the chair. Since Snow’s description was eerily similar to her own inability to recall anything from more than a few weeks ago. Some things being clearer than others, but none of the memories were complete or made sense to her. And ironically the only ones she could recall with perfect clarity were the fake ones she had of Emma.

 

She paced around the apartment, staring at the paintings hanging on the walls, her gaze eventually falling onto the collection of photo frames standing on top of one of the cabinets.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“No,” she gritted out. In front of her was a picture of Emma and Henry standing in the snow and laughing at each other, and she quickly averted her eyes again. “It was a waste of time to come here. I will leave you to your afternoon nap.”

 

She turned around only to find Snow standing right in front of her.

 

“Some of them are missing,” Snow said quietly as she reached for the same picture Regina had been staring at. “We had some of you all together at Granny’s during Henry’s birthday party. And there was one of you and Emma together standing next to it.”

 

Regina felt rooted to the ground as she watched Snow trace empty spots on the cabinet.

 

“Emma said…” Snow’s voice broke and she stopped talking, one of her hands moving downwards to caress her protruding belly. “She said that there were none of them remaining in your mansion either. That all the pictures you used to have there were gone.”

 

“I..”

 

“I know,” Snow flashed her a gentle half-smile. “I wish there was a way to bring them back somehow. They would’ve told stories all by themselves, especially the pictures of you and Henry.”

 

“They might be gone forever.” She tried to remain unfazed, but her eyes were irrevocably drawn towards the picture of Henry and Emma together. It made her wonder what her own pictures with Henry might’ve looked liked. It made her wonder if she used to have albums full of them.

 

“I should let you have your rest,” she muttered a moment later. Now that she had the needed information, she no longer felt like staying any longer than necessary. Being constantly reminded about her missing memories was taking it’s toll on her as well.

 

A hand placed across her arm stopped her before she was able to take a single step however and she frowned.

 

“Not all of it is a blur,” Snow said. She removed her hand and walked towards the kitchen. “My memories of what it was like during the years we were all cursed. I still remember a few things. I still remember some of your interactions with Henry. I know it’s not the same but…I could tell you some stories if you’d like?”

 

“I really should let you have some rest.”  
  


Smiling, Snow patted her tummy, “tell that to baby. She’s kicking up a storm, so even if I wanted to I doubt I would be able to get any sleep right now.”

 

“I..”

 

“Want coffee?”

 

She narrowed her eyes at Snow interjection. “No.” Despite her objection, the coffee-maker still sputtered to life and she pinched the bridge of her nose, silently wondering why Show even had bothered to ask. She hesitated for a second more, her eyes flicking towards the door, but the need to know more about the memories she had lost eventually overrode any reservations she had.

 

“Fine,” she growled, removing her coat and seating herself at one of the stools near the kitchen island.

 

 

 

* * *

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, but there were some things I had to set up in these coming chapters. You'll see when you get there ;) That and I also wrote a one-shot that went from 4k to nearly 10k, whoops. Thanks as always for the comments, kudos, and support.

  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  
  


Frowning, Regina glanced at the door and raised her voice, “come in.” The loud single knock on it had startled her and she rolled her tense shoulders and went back to signing the paperwork that was laid out in front of her on the desk.

 

“So you do know how to knock after all,” she remarked the moment the door was opened.

 

“Oh, I assume you were expecting someone else?”

 

Her head shot up immediately in surprise. She didn’t have any scheduled meetings for the remainder of the day and as such she had immediately jumped to the conclusion that there could only be one person visiting her.

 

“I wasn’t..” she started, then pursed her lips. She rolled the pen between her fingers as she glanced at an ill at ease Tinker Bell standing a few paces away from her desk. “Something happened?” Regina queried as she studied Tinker Bell. They hadn’t really said more than a few words to each these past few weeks. She couldn’t imagine why the fairy would be visiting her now, unless there was a good reason to do so.

 

“No, no,” Tink muttered, “nothing happened.” Then she brought out one of her hands from behind her back, revealing a brown paper bag that made Regina’s eyebrows raise. “Well other than Blue upping security measures to make sure that ordeal with the sleeping spell wouldn’t happen again. But I’m not here for that. I just thought that..well some time has passed and maybe if I apologized now for keeping things from you, it would be better received.”

 

“And the bag?”

 

“Just food. I realize it’s a little past lunch time but I figured since you usually ate pretty late in the past.”

 

“You do realize this could be constituted as bribery, don’t you dear?” She teased goodnaturedly. A lunchbreak did sound good to her however, she had been too occupied with finishing up a stack of paperwork before the day was over, and hadn’t actually paid much mind to the passage of time.

 

“Does that mean you’ll call the Sheriff?”

 

She knew Tink had meant for it to be a witty retort, but it still had a sobering effect on her mood. Emma Swan was constantly on her mind and when she wasn’t it seemed like everyone around her was always mentioning her in some form or way.

 

“Sorry,” Tink said as she placed the bag down on the desk before stepping away from it again. “I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I can leave if you want.”

 

“Why did you come here in the first place?”

 

“To apologize, to talk. I..don’t know what you remember from before..”

 

“I don’t know what I remember from before either.” It came out in a more bitter tone than she had intended but it was something that was eating away at her all the time; the knowledge that she couldn’t trust her own memories. She noticed Tink opening her mouth, no doubt to apologize again and sighed. “It’s fine dear,” she cut off whatever the fairy was going to say next. “I remember we had talked things out and had lunch together a few times before we went back to the Enchanted Forest.”

 

Tinker Bell had placed both of her hands in the pockets of her black trenchcoat as she rocked on the balls of her feet. “We had, yes.” Her eyes were fixed on something behind Regina as she licked her lips. “I thought I was doing the right thing when Emma asked me for help. If I had known..”

 

A sudden surge of anger flashed through her at the thought of the potion and what had happened to it. “Your foolishness cost me my memories, you should’ve told me about it!” She hissed out, slamming her hands on the desk in utter frustration. “I could’ve.. I could’ve..” she muttered, not sure how to finish that line of thought. But some of the anger and frustration, the helplessness she felt, always lingered right below the surface. And sometimes, especially in moments like these, the rope just got stretched too thin and all it took was a single word.

 

She shook her head and blew out a breath, attempting to gain control over her emotions again. When she looked up after a moment of deafening silence it was to find Tinker Bell wringing her hands, an remorseful expression painted across her features. “I’m sorry,” Regina murmured as she folded her hands on top of the desk. “I didn’t mean to lash out like that Tinker Bell. I’m not mad at you, I’m...”

 

“But you are at Emma, aren’t you?” Tinker Bell interrupted her.

 

The switch in topic made her falter. Made her eyes get stuck on one of the paintings on the wall, instead of looking directly at Tink. Because, wasn’t she? It was a question she had asked herself a few times the past week. Emma avoiding her, besides for checking up on Henry when Regina was spending time with him, had helped douse the flames. But they were still there. Embers of something that she didn’t know how to move past. Embers that always flared up to sparks along her skin whenever she saw Emma. She had wondered if they should ignite fires; would fuel the hatred she had initially felt when Emma had returned to Storybrooke.

 

“I don’t know,” she finally admitted with great reluctance. Her fingers skittered along the surface of the desk as she frowned deeply, attempted to pinpoint just what Emma was to her these days. “I was when I found out she had kept things from me. I was before it was revealed to me that my memories weren’t real.”

 

“And now?”

 

“Still as nosy as always aren’t you, dear?”

 

She gave Tinker Bell a pointed look, but flashed her a soft smile at the same time to take the sharp edge out of her words.

 

“A little too much for my own good sometimes, I know,” Tinker Bell chuckled as she grabbed one of the chairs and moved it towards the desk before sitting down. “We don’t have to talk about that though, I’m okay with talking about something else. But I..” Regina could sense Tinker Bell’s hesitation as she nervously tucked one of her blonde locks behind her ears. “Well I was just hoping that I didn’t screw up things too badly, for you to no longer confide in me when it comes to things like these.”

 

Regina smiled but didn’t reply as she traced circles on the desk. “I’m not angry at Emma,” she finally said after a long moment of silence. It had been a internal struggle, but the need to unburden herself, to vent some of conflicting feelings and thoughts had won out in the end. “Not at this Emma,” she continued, putting some emphasis on the this-part.

 

“This Emma?” Tinker Belle repeated, her head tilting to the side as she scooted the chair a little closer to the desk. “Because of what happened to your memories?”

 

“Yes. I know they aren’t real, but they feel that way, Tink. All I felt was anger and rage when I saw Emma the day she returned to town. I remembered Emma threatening me, I remembered her saying she would make me pay. I remembered dozens of arguments we had. But even then there was something that felt..off I suppose.”

 

She balled her hands to fists as she recalled with almost startling clarity how they had a yelling match in Neverland. As if it had happened yesterday. While in reality it had never happened at all. And the thought weighed heavily on her mind. Coiled around in her chest and she had to stand up to take a breather.

 

“Regina?”

 

“I’m fine dear,” she assured as she walked to the window and glanced outside. “Or as fine as I can be under the circumstances.” She let out a humorless chuckle as she folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t know what to do. How to proceed from here. How to move on from what I remember. Those memories are the only thing I have to anchor myself. Without them I would be stumbling on blindly.”

 

Behind her she could hear a chair scraping along the linoleum, followed by movement in the periphery of her vision. She flicked her eyes slightly to the side, watching as Tinker Belle leaned back against the wall at the other side of the window.

 

“Look, I won’t pretend to have any knowledge about what it’s like to suddenly have your memories being tampered with. But I do know that it doesn’t change who you are. And no one said you had to be okay with what happened today, or tomorrow, or even in a month for that matter. I know I’m not exactly the best person to dispense advice but I would say just take your time.”

 

Regina snorted as she placed a hand against the window. “As if time will magically fix this,” she stated bitterly.

 

“Perhaps not, but it could..”

 

“Don’t,” she interrupted before Tinker Bell could continue. “I do not wish to dwell on this topic any further today, if you don’t mind.”

 

“Alright.” Regina craned her neck slightly, just in time to see Tinker Bell launch herself away from the wall, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her coat again. “So would it be okay if we met up again on another day?”

 

“You’re leaving?”

 

“Well I..”

 

She walked back to the desk and grabbed the brown paper bag Tink had placed there some minutes ago. Opening it she spied a large stack of sandwiches and smirked. “Considering the amount of food you brought, you either believed I hadn’t eaten for a week or you were considering the possibility that we would have lunch together.”

 

“Uhm,” Tink muttered and Regina’s smirk grew when she noticed a considerable amount of red starting to stain Tinker Bell’s cheeks. “Well okay, I had been hoping to share those sandwiches and continue where we left off before all of the curse stuff happened.”

 

“Then by all means, dear, do sit down again.”

  
  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  
  


“I did not fall out of that tree,” Henry huffed, sticking out his lower lip ever so slightly in an petulant way.

 

“Well that is not what your grandmother said,” Regina replied cheerily as she flipped a page of the storybook in progress. “Though she did mention that thankfully all you suffered was a slight scrape along your knee, a ruined set of pants and wounded pride.”

 

He looks away from her as he taps the pencil on the kitchen table. “That was my second pair of pants that week,” he confessed with a chuckle. “You said you would make me walk around pantless if I didn’t tone it down.”

 

“What happened to the first pair?”

 

“I uhm, got kind of got stuck in some barbed wire when I climbed over a fence.”

 

When she raised an eyebrow at him, he scratched at his cheek, evading her gaze. “I suppose you’ll have to tell me that story one day.”

 

“Yeah..”

 

There was a faraway look in his eyes all of a sudden and she wondered what brought it on. “Something on your mind, dear?” She asked softly.

 

“I..” His lower lip wobbled slightly as he looked right at her. “You still don’t remember anything do you?”

 

She sighed and pushed the book away in frustration. “I do not, no. I suppose this..” she gestured towards the book and stack of papers, “it helps, but the chance of regaining my memories might be very slim.” For a moment she thought of pointing out that once they eventually finished the book, it wasn’t very likely it would do anything either. But she thought better of it when she saw his eyes shining brightly with unshed tears, just before he turned away from her. It was still hard to think of him as her son, but the clearly readable emotions in his eyes still caused her stomach to lurch painfully.

 

“I just miss you,” he seemingly blurted out, as he sniffled slightly. “I’m glad you’re around more often now, but it’s not the same as before.”

 

“Henry..” she murmured, not sure what to say.

 

“Could we..spent more time together maybe?” He asked as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands. “Not just because of this book, but grabbing ice-cream or watching something on tv, maybe play something on my xbox? We used to play Rayman together, I could teach you to play it again sometimes?”

 

The look in his eyes was cautiously hopeful and despite not wanting to make any promises she wasn’t sure she was able to keep, she didn’t have the heart to turn him down. “Perhaps we can do that. Though one step at the time, dear.”

 

“Cool,” he said as he flashed her a smile. She wondered if he had picked up on her conflicting emotions pertaining to what he had suggested because he briefly put one of his hands on top of her own and squeezed it. “Ma said the same thing; to take it one step at the time. So, I’ll leave it up to you, mom?”

 

She nodded and swallowed, her eyes flicking to where his hand was resting and a part of her was relieved that he retracted it again. He grabbed one of the handful of scribbled notes strewn around the table and placed it next to the book.

 

“I think that one’s next.”

 

“Hmm, I do believe it is.”

 

She reached out for the glass of water and took a sip. The knotted up feeling in her chest slowly started to disappear and she took a deep breath as she glanced from Henry to the book. There was still the matter of the request he made moments ago and she wasn’t sure on how to proceed yet. Because every time he thought she wasn’t looking, she noticed the stolen glances her way. As if he was expecting her to do or say something and it made her feel off kilter. It was something she had no control over, something she couldn’t change or influence. All she had was the stories Snow told her and some of the altered memories.

 

She wondered if it would be enough.

 

“Do you want to go over the previous story again, first?” She asked. They had made quite some progress today, more than she thought actually, but they had kind of rushed through the illustrations that went along with Ariel’s story. She also took note of how far along in the book they had proceeded already, considering they had only been doing this for a few weeks, and it made her wonder if they should maybe put some of the stories in another book. She very much doubted everything Henry had scribbled down on that notepad of his would fit into just one book.

 

“Maybe later? I think we should..”

 

The front door opening and the jangling sound of a set of keys being thrown onto some surface interrupted whatever he was going to say next.

 

“Ma?”

 

“Hey kid,” Emma said as she entered the kitchen area without looking, “how was school?”

 

“Boring.”

 

Emma chuckled as she walked towards the refrigerator and Regina could feel her muscles tensing when hazel-green eyes finally settled on her. They widened just a little bit and Emma’s jaw visibly clenched. The can of soda in Emma’s hand seemed to be forgotten as they had a staring match.

 

“Regina,” Emma finally muttered on a subdued tone. “I wasn’t aware you would be here today.”

 

“Not for much longer, we were just finishing up.”

 

“Right.”

 

Instead of looking away, Emma’s eyes raked across her form and Regina could feel her cheeks burn a little under the scrutinizing gaze. She wondered if it had happened before and she just hadn’t noticed it, or if it was because of this particular pantsuit she had chosen to wear today.

 

Pursing her lips, Regina averted her gaze back to the book, ignoring the questioning look on Henry’s face as he looked from her to Emma and back again. She decided to disregard Emma’s presence and just finish the page they had been working on since taking Henry home from school, before taking her leave.

 

The sound of the soda can being opened reached her ears, followed by various drawers being opened and closed. It wasn’t until the rummaging about with various pans drowned out her thought process that her head snapped up and she glared at Emma irritatingly.

 

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

 

“What does it look, Regina?” Emma answered in a defensive tone. She had a cutting board in her hands as she looked at Regina. “It’s late, I’m hungry and I’m sure Henry is too. So I’m making us some dinner. Now you can stay or you can leave, I really couldn’t care less right now, but I refuse to be called out for making a freaking dinner in my own kitchen.”

 

By the time she had finished, Emma’s fingers had tightened their hold on the cutting board in such a way that her knuckles had gone white. Her lips were drawn into a tight line and the way she kept staring at Regina made her feel as if Emma was trying to bore holes into her skull. It only served to reinforce her decision to leave as soon as possible.

 

“I see,” was the only reply as she raised her eyebrows at Emma in an unimpressed way. She focused her attention back on the book, transferring one of the illustrations from Henry’s notes to the blank space left on the page.

 

“Ma hasn’t been sleeping that well lately,” Henry murmured in hushed voice. She was fairly sure Emma had likely heard it anyway, but apparently she actively chose not to comment on Henry divulging that information.

 

“I know,” she whispered back. And though Henry looked at her for a long while, he didn’t say anything in reply. She smiled at him and conjured up a few more lines in the book. “That should do it for now,” she said. “You could check over the story, see if we missed anything, I’ll correct the mistakes later.”

 

“Okay,” Henry said, though he wasn’t looking at her when he spoke. “Thanks, mom.”

 

She nodded and stood up from the chair, fetching her purse from where she had placed it on the table, before turning around to face the kitchen. Emma was slicing something on the cutting board, although Regina was unable to identify what it was from where she was standing.

 

“What are you making?” She inquired before she could think better of it.

 

She noticed Emma’s shoulders tensing up immediately, before she slowly turned around. “Spaghetti Carbonara. You..” Emma worried her lower lip, then went back to chopping and Regina was about to inquire what Emma had been meaning to say when she continued. “You taught me the recipe.”

 

She was rendered speechless by that revelation. “I taught you?” she repeated slightly under her breath as she drew a little nearer to where Emma was standing.

 

“You..used to enjoy pastas a lot. Did that change too?”

 

“I don’t think it did.” She was struck by how mundane their conversation really was. And to her surprise she also found herself a little bit curious as to how the dish would taste. Though that would require her to stay and the thought tore at her. Since only moments ago she had wanted to leave. Though she no longer understood why she had wanted to.

 

Her own thoughts disconcerted her and she swallowed, ignoring the puzzling glance Emma threw her way. She went back to cutting what looked to be onions and Regina frowned.

 

“I might’ve taught you this recipe, but it seems I skipped teaching you how to properly slice vegetables. Unless you were actively seeking to lose some of your fingers, in that case you are doing a fairly good job,” she scolded as she reached out and placed one of own hands on top of the one with which Emma was chopping the onions.

 

“Wha..” Emma’s head whipped up and she instantly became aware of the mistake she had made by approaching Emma from behind like this. They were standing far too close for comfort and the way Emma was looking at her, all fragile hope as her eyes darted everywhere, made all of Regina’s breath catch in her throat. The skin below her fingers was soft and warm and even as Regina removed her hand, feeling as if she got burned, she noticed Emma’s eyes dipping lower. To her lips, she realized and her heart jumped in her chest as she took two quick steps backwards.

 

“You did teach her that too,” Henry suddenly piped up, and Emma instantly turned to face him, breaking whatever spell had been over them, to her great relief. She didn’t even want to dwell on what happened, not while her blood was still rushing through her veins and the phantom feeling of Emma’s skin still tingled under her fingertips.

 

Henry at least seemed completely oblivious to the tension that hung between her and Emma as he looked at them both. “At least a dozen times, but eventually you gave up because ma just kept chopping things in her own way.”

 

“Hey,” Emma muttered as she held up one of the onions with one hand and waved it around. “You know that’s not how it went, kid.”

 

“Be as it may, I wouldn’t want to be called back here after I leave, to help magically reattach one of your severed fingers. So you can grate the parmesan, and I’ll work on the vegetables and bacon.”

 

She knew she could’ve just left, especially considering what had just taken place between her and Emma, but something was compelling her to stay. Though she figured she could still decide to leave after she had helped prepare the meal Emma was cooking.

 

“Sounds good to me,” Emma said and Regina looked up to find Emma staring at her intently for a moment before she walked to the very end of the counter and played with the buttons of the small radio that sat there.

 

Tunes of some catchy pop-music soon filled the air and she shook her head when she heard Henry drumming the beat on the table with his pencil somewhere behind her.

 

“You should do your homework while I’m working on our dinner, Henry, I’ll call you when it’s ready, okay?”

 

She turned her head to the side and noticed him opening his mouth, no doubt to protest the suggestion, but then his lips clamped shut again and he rolled his eyes. “Slave-driver,” he muttered as he closed the book and walked to the living room.

 

“I heard that,” Emma yelled across her shoulder as she filled one of the pans with water.

 

Regina didn’t pay much mind to what she was doing, but eventually she felt someone’s eyes boring into her and she turned around to face Emma. “Yes?” She queried, eyebrows raised for emphasis.

 

“I just...want to apologize…” Emma said as she fidgeted, one of her fingers tracing the rim of the pan. “For before..I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. I don’t know why I did..well maybe I do a little,” she babbled and Regina couldn’t suppress her lips curling into a faint smile. It was kind of endearing and so far removed from what she remembered that she couldn’t help wonder what their life had been like before her memories had been altered.

 

“It’s been really frustrating.” Emma sighed and rolled her shoulders. “And like Henry said, I haven’t been sleeping very well.” A moment of silence followed in which Regina wondered if she should speak up. But the way Emma stared off in the distance made her think that there was something else that Emma wanted to say, and she decided to stay quiet for a little while more.

 

“I appreciate you spending more time with him however, and I..appreciate you helping out with making the spaghetti right now. I realize it can’t be easy for you eit..”

 

“It doesn’t mean I will stay,” she interrupted before Emma could continue.

 

A flash of hurt appeared across Emma’s features, before she dipped her chin to her chest. “Right. And I won’t make you. It’s your decision in the end.”

 

Regina could see the bobbing of Emma’s throat as she swallowed convulsively a few times before turning away and continuing with preparing the meal. And it was odd how much it affected her. Odd how even after she had said the words, that she likely wouldn’t stay, she was considering to do exactly that.

 

“I kind of missed hearing that,” Emma spoke up after a minute or so of relative silence, other than the radio playing in the background.

 

“What?” She questioned, blinking in confusion.

 

“You, humming along with whatever song was playing on the radio while we were cooking something together.”

 

“I-I don’t..” she uttered haltingly, completely taken by surprise. She couldn’t ever recall humming while she was cooking for herself, not in the first place because she didn’t even have a radio in her own kitchen. But then she didn’t recall humming just now either.

 

“Sorry, I..”

 

An obnoxiously loud ringtone suddenly went off and Regina rose an eyebrow at Emma. “That is the most distasteful ringtone I’ve ever heard.”

 

Emma chuckled, her eyes twinkling mischievously and Regina wondered if there was some kind of story behind that particular ringtone that she wasn’t privy to as to yet.

 

“David, hey.”

 

She mostly tuned out the conversation as she chopped up some parsley, still debating internally whether there would be any harm in staying over for dinner. Tinker Bell’s advice on giving it time echoed around in her head as she frowned.

 

“Really?!” Emma’s ecstatic outcry made Regina twist her head around. “Wow, that’s actually great news. Yeah,” Emma continued, her eyes flicking around the apartment wildly which only served to increase Regina’s confusion about what was going on. “Okay, yeah I’ll take Henry with me and…”

 

She noticed how Emma’s expression instantly changed from joy to worry and Regina placed down the knife and stepped closer to where Emma was standing.

 

“David, what’s…” Emma’s lips formed around some unspoken words as she stared at Regina in what seemed to be a mixture of fear and confusion. “David?! Dad! Dad!!” She practically screamed into the phone and then she lowered it, her hand trembling like a leaf.

 

“Emma?”

 

“I..I need to go the hospital, something’s wrong.”

* * *

 


	12. Chapter 12

“I asked, what’s going on?”

Instead of replying, Emma rushed past her to a small closet.

“Emma?” Her confusion over what was going on mounted when she heard Emma typing in something, before she retrieved her holster and gun from what she assumed had been a safe inside the closet.

“Ma? Did something happen to grandpa?”

She had almost forgotten about Henry and the wide-eyed look on his face told Regina that he had likely overheard Emma talking on the phone.

“I..I don’t know,” Emma muttered as she fumbled with the holster for a few seconds before throwing it away accompanied by cursing and placed the gun into the back of the waistband of her jeans instead. “Mary Margaret went into labor but there were complications so they had to perform a cesarean. David mentioned both the baby and Mary Margaret were okay but suddenly there was screaming in the background. He was yelling something before the line went dead.”

Emma had walked into the hallway and Regina followed after her, trying to process everything that Emma had been telling her. 

“You think they are in danger?”

“I know they are in danger, Regina.”

“I want to come with you,” Henry exclaimed.

“Henry, no, it’s too dangerous. We don’t know what’s out there.” Emma shook her head as she turned around. She had grabbed the keys to her car from a small counter and Regina could see the wheels spinning in Emma’s head as to what to do with Henry. 

“Emma wait,” she said when Emma grabbed her jacket and scrambled to put it on. “I can just teleport us there, it would be far quicker than driving.”

Something about the whole situation had alarm bells going off in her head and spurred her decision to accompany Emma to the hospital.

“Oh, you can… Thank you,” Emma mumbled. She tossed the car keys away again and fished her phone from one of the pockets of her jeans. “Call Ruby, tell her what happened and tell her to come here and keep watch over you,” she ordered to Henry as she threw him the phone.

Henry looked like he wanted to argue for a second before he just nodded without further objections. 

“We’ll be back as soon as we can kid,” Emma said softly, before she turned towards Regina, the expression on her face hardening. “Ready when you are.”

Despite the fact that she had just gotten the okay to cast the spell whenever she wanted to, something made her hesitate for just a moment and she locked eyes with Emma. Something made her seek out Emma, made her search for something in her eyes and Regina wondered if they had been in a similar situation before.

Taking one last glance at Henry, she took a deep breath and called up the spell. But she felt something interfering with it before they could make it to their destination. A harsh shock of energy jolted through her body and she crashed to her knees on the pavement in the hospital’s parking lot. Gasping for breath she felt one of Emma’s hands settle on her shoulder.

“Regina! Are you okay? What happened?”

“I..I don’t know,” she managed to grit out between clenched teeth. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. The spell should’ve taken us inside the hospital.” She stood up with shaky legs, thankful for Emma’s support and reached out with her magic to determine what had caused the interference. 

“Magic, right?”

She nodded by way of answer, her expression turning grim as she noticed the complete lack of activity around the hospital. “Some kind of barrier. We should be able to pass through on foot, I believe it’s only meant to stop someone from teleporting inside.” Dusting herself off she peered at the main entrance.

“What does that mean?” Emma asked as she pulled the gun from her waistband. “If it’s magical then..you think the Wicked Witch is in there?”

She glanced over at Emma as they slowly made their way to the set of stairs that lead to the hospital’s entrance. “And Rumplestiltskin possibly.” Her mind was working on trying to figure out why they would be there. And why the spell wasn’t tuned so it would completely stop anybody from entering the hospital. The only explanation she could think of that it was cast in a hurry for some reason.

She followed after Emma as she took the first few steps up the stairs. She held the gun in front of her rigidly, eyes darting around for any signs of danger and Regina had to hold her tongue to refrain from commenting on Emma’s reliance on the useless piece of metal, instead of the magic she possessed.

“This isn’t a coincidence is it?” Emma whispered as she stole a quick glance into the hospital’s entry hall before flattening herself to the wall again. “It has to have something to do with my mother’s pregnancy, with the baby.”

“I agree. There has to be a reason she’s finally came out of hiding,” Regina murmured. Though she decided to withhold some of her suspicions as to what the Wicked Witch would need a baby for. Or this baby in particular. 

Conjuring up a small fireball she nodded at Emma. They both entered the hospital at the same time and Regina was once more struck by how quiet it was inside. Emma’s mention of hearing screaming when she was on the phone with David flashed through her mind and she warily glanced at the empty hallway

“Emma,” she murmured as she flicked her eyes over at the reception desk. A computer screen was casting a eerie blue glow across the cubicle and a large cup of coffee sat next to a stack of files. All signs pointed to whoever had been manning the reception desk abandoning it in a hurry.

She moved towards a corner of the room, keeping an eye on the hallways on both sides of the reception desk as Emma walked up to it, raised her gun and then lowered it and Regina could feel her heart skip a beat when Emma turned towards her.

“There’s someone lying on the ground on the other side,” Emma whispered. 

“Are they still alive?” 

“I don’t know, it’s hard to see.”

She followed Emma’s line of sight to the door that was next to the closed off reception cubicles and nodded in confirmation. She was reminded of finding the unconscious fairies at the convent and wondered if the same had transpired here. Which would mean they were one step behind. Again. And the thought made her grit her teeth.

The moment Emma opened the door she immediately took notice of a woman lying on her stomach on the floor and facing them. As if she had been knocked out while trying to run away.

“She’s alive,” Emma said as she felt for a pulse and Regina shared her relief, swallowing around the slight lump in her throat. 

They made their way to the cubicle and Regina didn’t need Emma’s confirmation to know that the woman lying next to her office chair was still breathing. “Whatever happened here, they at least didn’t deem it necessary to kill whomever got in the way.”

Emma closed her eyes and Regina knew she was gathering her bearings, trying to calm her likely fraying nerves. There was still the matter of finding her parents and the baby after all.

“My father said my mother and the baby were stable, so I’m assuming my mom at least would be in one of the recovery rooms.”

“It should be around the corner and down the hallway,” Regina said as she followed after Emma again. “Just be prepared for anything,” she whispered when they rounded the corner. She noticed the sign pointing towards the recovery rooms and the fireball in her hand blazed up into its full roaring glory.

Two nurses with bloodstained uniforms were laying on the floor near the double doors leading to the surgery wing and Emma gave her an alarmed look. An overturned gurney and dozens of papers littered the ground close to where the nurses were lying. Emma looked down for a moment before she pushed one of the doors open inch by inch, gun extended in front of her as she glanced down the corridor. Regina followed her movements, the fireball in her hand casting small shadows along the walls. A set of recovery rooms was along the next corner and Regina was just about to point this out to Emma when she spied movement from the corners of her eyes.

“Emma,” she whispered in an urgent tone.

“I saw it too.” 

She let Emma lead the way, knowing that she was far less likely to fire the gun if whatever was in the room didn’t pose a threat. Whereas she herself didn’t have any qualms throwing the fireball if the person so much as made a wrong sound.

The lights in the room were out, though the window was open and the dark curtains in front of it were dancing along with the wind, other than that and some beeping coming from down the hallway, it was quiet.

She followed Emma’s slow steps into the room, carefully keeping her back to the wall, when a timid voice ringing out made her jump up a little in surprise. “D-don’t hurt me, please.”

The fireball in her hand provided enough light to illuminate the back of the room where the woman was sitting huddled on the ground. She was dressed in doctor’s garbs, flecks of blood staining the otherwise pristine white clothes. A stethoscope was hanging around her neck and her face was obscured by locks of long brown hair that had escaped from the loosely tied bun. She was shaking like a leaf and Regina noticed how the terrified woman’s eyes didn’t stray away from the fireball in her hands. Stealing a quick glance over at Emma she snuffed the fireball and crouched down in front of the doctor.

“Are you hurt?” 

The woman shook her head and Regina’s eyes fell on the name badge clipped to a pocket on the uniform. 

“Doctor Taylor? Can you tell us what happened?”

“I-I don’t know,” the woman mumbled. Her eyes still held a great amount of fear, although Regina noticed most of the shaking had stopped. “I was taking a short nap and all of a sudden there was screaming and yelling and I could hear things crashing to the ground. I didn’t know what to do, so I hid in a utility closet.”

“So you didn’t see anything?” Emma asked and lowered the gun but Regina saw her still keeping an eye on the door.

“I didn’t,” Doctor Taylor answered. She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ears and drew in some deep breaths. “I heard some people talking after it went quiet. One of them was a woman at least, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying.”

“Do you have any idea how long ago this was?” Regina inquired as she stood up. 

“Maybe ten minutes at most?” 

Emma nodded, “so they might still be here.” She brought the gun back out, rolling her shoulders as she walked back to the doorway. 

“You should be safe here,” Regina said, fixing her gaze on the woman for a moment. “We don’t think they intended to harm anyone. Your colleagues should be waking up in a few hours.”

“I think I’ll stay here for the time being,” the Doctor murmured, “just in case. The screaming is still echoing around in my head.”

“Okay, whatever happens just stay put,” Emma ordered. “We’re just going to check if the hospital is clear.”

“I will, thank you,” the Doctor mumbled.

Regina conjured up another fireball and extended the other hand just in case a barrier was necessary. She followed after Emma as she slowly made her way past a few closed doors, before they came to the corridor that held the recovery rooms.

The first room was empty and Regina could see the worry eating away at Emma as she quickened her pace. Relief washed over her when she opened the second door and lowered the gun instantly as she rushed towards the hospital bed. Regina glanced across the corridor but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and extinguished the fireball, closing the door behind her as she entered the room.

“Mom?”

A ghostly pale Mary Margaret was laying in the hospital bed, various wires were taped to her chest and arms and an IV drip was running to one of her hands. The steady beeping of a heart monitor was the only sound in the room other than Emma’s ragged breaths. 

Only when Regina walked up to where Emma was standing, she noticed the empty baby bassinet as well as a figure lying on their side next to it. 

“Whale,” she murmured as she crouched down and felt for a pulse, nodding at Emma’s questioning look. “He’s alive, though it looks like he took a beating.” A few cuts and scrapes marred his face and she concluded he had likely been thrown into something.

“The baby,” Emma murmured, her eyes filling up with unshed tears. “They took the baby.”

She was about to argue that the baby might still be at the maternity ward but then she noticed the blankets and the woolen cap laying inside the bassinet and her throat constricted.

“They could still be here right?” Emma rubbed her eyes, her expression hardening. She looked towards Mary Margaret and Regina noticed her obvious reluctance at having to leave her mother all by herself.

“Emma..” Even with her conflicting feelings about Emma, she still didn’t want to give her any unrealistic hope. If it had truly just been the baby that the Wicked Witch was after, she was likely long gone by now.

Emma’s lips pursed into a thin line and she stormed out of the room without another word.

“Emma!” she yelled, not caring about who might overhear them and hurried after her all the while cursing under her breath.

She got to an intersecting corridor when she noticed Emma slowing down and walking towards a small waiting room. Various people were lying unconscious on the floor or sprawled across the seats. 

Before she could ask Emma what the hell she thought she was doing, she saw what had drawn Emma’s attention. Remains of a phone were strewn around on the floor in front of the seats and she realized it had likely been David’s.

“My father was here,” Emma murmured and Regina wondered if there was possible that David had managed to get the baby to safety somehow.

“Did the phonecall give you any idea where he could’ve gone?” She asked as her eyes darted around the waiting room and then further into the corridor that led to another wing.

“No. Just screaming. I doubt he could’ve gone far, considering what happened to the rest of the people here.”

“But your father isn’t the kind of person to hide from a threat. Even when it would be the wise thing to do so.” She didn’t dislike the man, but it seemed all too obvious that his hero-complex would likely get him killed one day.

“He would’ve tried to go back to my mother and the baby,” Emma surmised as she looked into the direction they had came from. A frown creased her forehead as she scanned the hallway. One of the doors was open and from the way Emma was raising her gun back up, Regina realized she had drawn the same conclusion.

As they got closer Regina picked up on small hollow sounds, as if someone was tapping against a metallic object. She exchanged a quick look with Emma and they both took an opposite side as they entered the room.

Almost immediately she noticed David sitting against the foot end of the bed. He was rocking back and forward while mumbling nonsensical things A blank expression was etched across his face and an overturned metal tray was lying next him. The ring on one of his fingers was rapping against it in a continuous beat and Regina realized that’s where the metallic noise was coming from.

“David?” Emma dropped the gun and enveloped his face between both of his hands. 

He flinched the instant Emma touched him. “Don’t hurt me,” he cried out. His voice was small and fearful, taking on an almost childlike quality. “Stay away from me.”

“Dad..” Emma murmured softly. She lowered her hands to her sides and her eyes darted all over David, as if she was looking for something that would explain his current state of mind. “Regina, do you have any idea what’s wrong with him?”

“No. Though I assume he’s under the influence of some kind of enchantment.”

“But he’s not unconscious like the others.”

David looked at both of them with huge round eyes, his bottom lip trembling as he crawled away to a corner of the room. Regina couldn’t recall ever having seen someone in this state before and she tried to understand what had happened to him and why.

Letting some magic flow through her, she tried to sense if there was some kind of spell on him and if there was a way to break it. But what she found surprised her. “It’s not what was done to him, it’s what was taken from him.”

“What..what does that even mean?” Emma asked as she picked up the gun from the floor and slowly walked up to David. The closer she got however, the more he curled up to a ball and Emma stopped, a heartbreaking expression on her face as she turned to face Regina.

“I don’t know. He’s missing something. Everyone has a magical aura and usually spells interfere with it, but it’s like a part of his aura is missing. Whatever it was, it caused him to revert to..”

“Someone who fears everything?” Emma surmised. “David?” She tried again, but the only response to her question was her father attempting to making himself even smaller. “How do we help him?” Emma asked, her voice strained as she stared at the gun in her hand.

“I don’t know. If something was removed, it has to be contained in something. It would stand to reason that the Wicked Witch likely possesses this container. If we could trace it down I might be able to undo his current state easily.”

Emma sighed, looking infinitely more tired all of a sudden. “This Witch is always one step ahead of us Regina and I’m tired of it. I don’t know about you but I’d say it’s time to take the fight to her.” She shook her head and walked up to the door that led out of the room. 

And Regina felt it before she saw it. Before she was able to warn Emma about the imminent danger, a flash of magic threw Emma against the wall on the other side of the room and the gun she had been holding clattered to the ground. Emma’s eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and surprise and her feet kicked futilely as she clutched at the invisible grip holding her immobilized against the wall.

“Why yes, dears, do take the fight to me,” a voice rang out from somewhere in the hallway and Regina felt shivers run down her spine. 

She quickly conjured up a fireball and threw it into the hallway, while dispelling the magic used on Emma with her other hand.

“Hmm, still a hothead I see, little sister.”

Without missing a beat, Regina conjured up another fireball while using her other hand to place a protective barrier in the middle of the hallway. A hooded figured, dressed in a dark brown robe was standing at the opposite side of the hallway. She had one of her hands extended outwards and Regina could feel powerful magic attempting to pierce her barrier. From the corner of her eyes she could see Emma drawing herself upright against the wall.

“I don’t know who you are but I suggest..”

“No,” the woman interrupted. She sounded amused to Regina’s great irritation. “I suppose you really don’t have a clue who I am.” The woman’s hand extended outwards again and Regina dispelled her fireball and focused all of her magic on keeping the barrier intact. 

“I would guess it’s that pesky little memory issue of yours, sis.”

“You have a sister?” Emma asked between coughs while clutching her throat with one of her hands.

“Half sister to be precise.” 

The woman chuckled and to Regina’s relief stopped her attempts at breaking through the barrier. She pushed the hood back over her head and Regina’s jaw dropped. Piercing blue eyes studied her intently and Regina recognized the woman as Snow’s midwife. With the glaring difference of having most of her face and visible skin covered by bright green spots now.

“Zelena?” Emma was shaking her head, the expression on her face one of utter disbelief. “You were my mother’s..” And then her eyes grew huge and Regina felt some of the puzzle pieces click into place for herself as well. “You took the baby, didn’t you?! Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

“Oh it would seem the savior isn’t doing much saving lately now is she?” Zelena smirked as she cocked her head. “But I’ll admit it was fun watching you walk around the town, hangdog expression on your face as you moped about the fate of your relationship. And my little sister over here would barely give you the time of the day.”

Regina scoffed, “truly now, as if I wouldn’t know I had a sister.”

“But that’s the beauty of it, isn’t it?” Zelena’s voice was like nails on chalkboard and Regina itched to throw a few fireballs to wipe the smug expression from her face. “We’ve met before and you don’t remember. But I do, and I also remember a promise I made to you. That I would take everything from you,” Zelena hissed, “including your happily ever after.”

“What did you do with the baby?” Emma had stepped closer to the barrier, a fire burning in her eyes that Regina couldn’t remember ever having seen before. “And my father?”

“So many questions,” Zelena said, making a clicking noise with her tongue as she checked the watch on her wrist. “So little time. But I’ll admit this makes it easier. I hadn’t quite expected my dear little sister to make her appearance here as well.” 

Both of Zelena’s hands extended outwards in a quick motion and a blast of magic crumbled Regina’s barrier away. 

“Regina?” Emma sounded frantic as she flattened herself against the wall. 

“I need your help,” she managed to gasp out as she blocked another blast of magic. She fired few small fireballs into Zelena’s direction but the witch had no issues dispelling them before they got near her and Regina’s heartbeat accelerated. 

Regina conjured up a new barrier and Emma dived across the floor to crouch behind it as it buckled under a renewed assault. “What do you want me to do?” 

“Use your magic, don’t think, just use it.”

She saw the flicker of hesitation passing across Emma’s face before determination replaced it. A yellow ball of energy sprung up from the palm of Emma’s hand and Regina grinned. When Emma threw it, despite the clumsy gesture, Regina noticed how much difficulty Zelena had in blocking it. The witch cursed as some of the magic even seemed to impact on her and a murderous expression formed on her face as she fired off more blasts of energy.

“It’s y-your magic,” Regina managed to stutter out. Her palms were sweaty and her entire body was on fire from the strain she was putting on it. “Remember the pendant.”

“As much fun as I’m having, I do think it’s time to wrap this up,” Zelena said. Her breathing was laboured and the words were said through gritted teeth and Regina couldn’t suppress a smirk.

But then with a flick of wrist a dagger appeared in Zelena’s outstretched hand and Regina swallowed. She didn’t have the time or energy to teleport them both out and Regina wondered if that had been the plan all along.

“Rumplestiltskin,” Zelena’s voice boomed around the hallway and Regina caught the worried glance Emma cast her way.

Dark purple mist obscured their vision for a moment and then Rumplestiltskin appeared in the middle of it. “You rang, dearie?“

Regina’s heart hammered away in her chest as she watched Rumple and Zelena warily. There wasn’t enough time for any complex spells and her mind scrambled to come up with a scenario that would get them out of the hospital unscathed. She used up what little magical reserves she had to conjured up one last barrier, despite knowing it would only buy them mere seconds at most.

“I trust you had enough time, hmm?” Zelena said sweetly. “I have a new task for you, please do be a dear and take out the savior for me. My sister and I have an appointment and all, and this bothersome white magic is interfering with my plans.”

Regina’s head snapped towards Emma and she saw her turning to sprint towards one of the doors. But after the first step, something immobilized Emma mid stride and her eyes grew huge in surprise.

“What the hell is you want with us?” Regina hissed out. “I don’t even know you and even if it was..” The barrier broke and she doubled over when a blast of magic impacted her chest and knocked all the air from her lungs.

Her back crunched against the wall and she gasped, taking quick wheezing breaths as she instinctively blocked another blast of magic Zelena threw her way. But a new barrage slammed into her outstretched arms and toppled her over, causing her head to impact the ground with enough force for black spots to appear in her vision.

“Since you asked so nicely” Zelena murmured and Regina groaned and attempted to sit up right. “I need a heart actually, and yours will do just fine for what I have in mind.”

Magic forced Regina’s body upwards and immobilized her against the wall. She attempted to free her wrists but everything felt too heavy and her movements sluggish, as if someone had poured sand into her limbs. Sharp hot pain suddenly lanced through her chest, wrenching her eyes open and she gasped as she noticed Zelena standing in front of her, one of her arms disappearing into her chest.

“Regina!” She heard Emma’s voice calling out, punctuated by sharp outcries of pain. 

“I will make it so you were never born. I will have what is rightfully mine by birth,” Zelena spat out.

She managed to tap into enough magic to stop Zelena from closing her fingers completely around her heart, but Regina knew she was just delaying the inevitable. Cold tendrils of magic seeped into her chest, making her shiver as Zelena increased the pressure. Regina could feel her hold on her magic slipping and she was unable to keep her head from falling to a side as strength escaped her.

She could see Emma lying on her back further down the hallway. Her eyes were bulging as Rumple’s magic was choking her and something in Regina twisted. It coiled deeply into her chest until it burst outwards. Zelena shrieked and the invasive magic pulling on Regina’s heart was gone. She fell to the floor as her legs couldn’t support her and she noticed Zelena was laying in a similar position several feet away from her, an astonished expression on her face as she looked at her hands. The hands that didn’t hold Rumple’s dagger anymore.

Regina’s eyes darted to the side and she reached out far quicker than she thought she would’ve been capable of and grabbed the fallen dagger. 

“That’s not possible,” Zelena yelled out, her head shaking as she continued to make gestures with her hands. “How the hell did you do that?!”

It dawned on Regina that Zelena was unable to use her magic due to the the lingering effects of what had just happened. 

“Emma!” She yelled. 

To her surprise Emma had already risen up, though she leaned against the wall as one of her legs was unable to bear any weight and blood was running from her split lip. Without a word she extended her hand and Regina grinned despite the pain when she saw the pendant vanishing from Zelena’s neck.

Before she was able to say anything, a flash of blinding white light made her shield her eyes with her hand.

Something shattered and then for a moment everything was silent..

Until Emma screamed out in agony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize there's a lot of unanswered questions left at the end of this chapter, but I promise to tie them up slowly over time. Also I did take most of what happened from the show obviously but I always thought Zelena was just a little bit too powerful and didn't find it realistic that Regina basically stood no chance against her for most of that arc. 
> 
> Either way, enjoy hanging on to that cliff for a while, I'll get back to you soon ;)


End file.
